Oconee County Schools’ gambit of seeking early approval of a new Education Local Option Sales Tax in a low-key election paid big dividends on Tuesday with 83.6 percent of the 1,924 voters who cast a ballot approving.
Turnout was the lowest ever for any of the six Education Local Option Sales Tax referendums going back to 1997 and involved the second smallest number of voters.
The Northeast Health District saw a small drop in the rolling average of added cases of COVID-19 with the release of the Tuesday Daily Status Report and no change in the rolling average of added deaths from the disease.
The Department of Public Health reported 99 new cases of COVID-19 in the 10-county Northeast Health District, compared with 107 on Tuesday of last week, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases dropped to 80.7 from 81.9 on Monday.
The seven-day rolling average of added COVID-19 cases in the Northeast Health District continued to decline on Monday with the addition of 37 new cases of the disease and two deaths attributed to the coronavirus.
Monday and Sunday reports of the Department of Public Health follow light reporting days from labs and medical facilities around the state, and the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report last Monday contained 116 cases but only one death.
With the addition of only 38 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Sunday’s Daily Status Report--the smallest number since Nov. 16--the seven-day rolling average of added cases continued to decline in the Northeast Health District.
The District added no confirmed deaths from the disease, which had been the case on Sunday of last week as well, and the seven-day rolling average of 2.0 deaths per day remained unchanged. Sundays are light reporting from labs and medical facilities to the Department of Public Health.
The Northeast Health District added only 69 COVID-19 cases and one death from the disease on Saturday, and the seven-day rolling average of both continued to decline.
The Department of Public Health Daily Status Report listed the death of an 82-year-old male in Walton County with a chronic condition as the sole confirmed death, bringing to 216 the number of COVID-19 deaths in Walton County and to 820 in the District.
The seven-day rolling average of added deaths fell to 2.0 and now has declined three days in a row.
Only 1,282 voters cast a ballot in early voting, which ended Friday, or returned an absentee ballot, making it almost certain that a very small percentage of Oconee County’s 31,965 registered voters is going to decide the fate of a major educational tax referendum.
Oconee County Schools is asking citizens to approve a new Education Local Option Sales Tax–effectively continuing the one in place–and authorize issuance of general obligation bonds for up to $42,950,000 to finance construction of a list of new capital projects.
The Northeast Health District added five confirmed deaths from COVID-19 on Friday and only 77 new cases of the disease as the Department of Public Health Released its Daily Status Report.
Because the Department of Public Health eliminated four deaths in Barrow County it had previously listed as the result of COVID-19, the net addition of one death from the disease resulted in a drop in the seven-day rolling average of added deaths.
The seven-day rolling average of added cases also declined on Friday.
