The Department of Public Health on Wednesday reported 239 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 based on molecular tests and 79 based on antigen tests in the 10-county Northeast Health District plus three deaths attributed to the disease.
The 239 added confirmed cases based on the molecular test are the most added in the District since Sept. 8 and pushed the seven-day rolling average of added cases to 156.1, its highest level since Sept. 15.
Developers are moving forward with a planned $50 million commercial development at the intersection of the Oconee Connector and Mars Hill Road that would include a Publix, a gas station with convenience store, and a bank in its initial phase.
In a second phase, the project concept plan shows restaurants, hotels, retail outlets, and an auto dealership.
The primary access to the property will be off the Oconee Connector, but the concept plan also shows five entrances off Mars Hill Road, including a major one opposite the current DaAndra Drive intersection with Mars Hill Road.
Oconee County voters overwhelmingly picked James Chafin in Tuesday’s runoff election for District Attorney of the Western Judicial Circuit, but their votes were offset by votes in Clarke County, and Deborah Gonzalez won with 51.7 percent of the final vote.
Turnout was higher in Oconee County, with 30.5 percent of the county’s 30,071 voters casting a ballot compared with 22.0 percent of Clarke County’s 76,779 voters.
The Department of Public Health reported on Tuesday that the 10 counties in the Northeast Health District added 171 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 based on molecular tests and an additional 106 cases based on rapid antigen tests.
The seven-day rolling average for cases based on both tests increased.
For the third day in a row, the Daily Status Report listed no new confirmed COVID-19 deaths from the disease. The seven-day rolling average of added confirmed deaths in the Daily Status report dropped from 1.3 on Monday to 1.1 on Tuesday.
University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock, in a retrospective on the Nov. 3 election for Oconee County Republicans, said the Democratic victory in the presidential race in Georgia was the result of trends a long time in the making.
“The state has been changing,” Bullock said. “This is not something that has happened over night.” The highwater point for Republicans came in 2004, and since that time Republican strength in the state has been on the decline, he said.
The Northeast Health District added 120 confirmed COVID-19 cases based on molecular tests and 23 cases based on the rapid antigen test in the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Monday.
For the second day in a row, the 10-county District did not add any deaths attributed to the novel corona virus in the Daily Status Report.
The Department of Community Health, however, in it Long-Term Care Facility Report on Monday, listed a death of a resident of High Shoals Health and Rehabilitation nursing home, 3450 New High Shoals Road in the west of Oconee County.
The Northeast Health District added 107 confirmed COVID-19 cases based on molecular tests with release of the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Sunday. The Daily Status Report listed no new confirmed deaths attributed to the disease.
The seven-day rolling average of added cases in the District increased to 135.9 on Sunday from 132.3 on Saturday.
Every county in the 10-county District added at least one case. Oconee County added 12 cases and Clarke County added 16. In both counties, the seven-day rolling average of added cases increased on Sunday from Saturday.
