COVID-19 Hospital Cases At Area Hospitals More Than Double In Last Week; Case Count In Northeast Health District Also Up

***Three New Deaths From Disease Reported***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 29 COVID-19 patients, just more than double the 14 reported on Friday of last week.

The number of ICU beds in use was 61, down from 63 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 27, up from 23 a week ago.

In its weekly COVID-19 report, the Georgia Department of Public Health announced that the number of new COVID-19 cases tallied in its electronic tracking system in the Northeast Health District in the week ending on June 22 was 696.

GDOT Says SR 316, Oconee Connector, Virgil Langford Road Will Remain Open During Interchange Reconstruction

***One Exit Ramp Closed For 45 Days***

The Oconee Connector and Virgil Langford Road intersections with SR 316, as well as SR 316 itself, will remain open to traffic during reconstruction of the two intersections, scheduled to take place from 2024 to 2027, with one exception.

Eastbound traffic on SR 316 trying to exit onto the Oconee Connector most likely will be required to detour around the intersection for 45 days at some point after reconstruction of that intersection gets underway.

The detour will route eastbound traffic along Jimmy Daniell Road to Virgil Langford Road, where it will be diverted either north or south.

Hammock Defeats Mauck In Republican Primary Runoff For Oconee County School Board Post 3

***Collins, Johnson-Green Favored In U.S. House Races***

Ryan Hammock soundly defeated Julie Mauck in the runoff Tuesday for the Oconee County Republican Party nomination for Post 3 on the Board of Education.

Hammock won in each of the county’s eight precincts.

He also won in early voting, absentee ballot voting, and election day voting.

His final figure was 57.9 percent to Mauck’s 42.1 percent.

Oconee County Early Voting For June 21 Runoff Less Than Half Early Voting For May Election

***Republican Ballot Rate Increased***

Turnout in early voting makes it likely that a relatively small number of Oconee County voters will have cast a ballot in the party primary runoffs by the end of election day tomorrow.

When early voting ended on Friday, only 2,244 of Oconee County’s 29,155 active voters had cast a ballot.

Another 282 voters had turned in an absentee ballot, bringing to 2,526 the total number of ballots received by the end of the day on Friday, or 8.6 percent of the county’s active voters.

Number of Hospital Cases Of COVID-19 Decreased In Last Week; Department Of Public Health Case Count Continues To Increase

***Oconee County Reported Drop In Cases***

The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 14 COVID-19 patients, down from the 18 reported on Friday of last week.

The number of ICU beds in use was 63, up from 58 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 23, down from 24 a week earlier.

Runoff Candidates At Oconee County Democratic Forum United And Looking Forward To November Election

***One Congressional Candidate A No Show***

Jessica Fore and Charlie Bailey joined the Oconee County Democrats in person for the party’s candidate forum on Thursday night before the June 21 primary runoff.

Kwanza Hall, who, like Bailey, is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor, joined remotely via Zoom.

Dee Dawkins-Haigler and Bee Nguyen, candidates for the party’s nomination for Secretary of State, also checked in remotely.

GDOT Releases Plans For Oconee Connector/SR 316 Interchange; No Access To Proposed Publix Shopping Center Shown

***Virgil Langford Road Plans Also Released***

The Georgia Department of Transportation released plans for the transformation of the SR 316 and Oconee Connector interchange on Wednesday that do not include access from the Connector to the proposed site of a Publix grocery.

The plans show the Oconee Connector flying over SR 316, as had been expected, but they also show an exit lane to the Oconee Connector for eastbound traffic that reaches far down the Connector, ending in a traffic light.