Across State COVID Cases And Deaths Increase; Regional Stability

Even as the state of Georgia saw continuing increases on Thursday in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths, in the 10-county Northeast Health District the average number of new cases remained the same as the day before and the average number of new deaths was down just slightly.

The Northeast Health District did add 35 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Thursday Daily Status Report of the Department of Public Health, up from 19 the day before.

Oconee County added two cases and all but two of the counties in the District added at least one new COVID-19 case, but the District added 35 cases a week ago as well, and the seven-day rolling average was steady at 27.0 cases per day.

The Northeast Health District also added a new COVID-19 death, bringing the total to 89. The newly recorded death was of an 84-year-old male in Barrow County without known chronic conditions.

The seven-day rolling average of added deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District dropped from 1.6 on Wednesday to 1.4 on Thursday.

The Department of Community Health reported on Thursday that no new COVID-19 deaths had occurred in the 22 facilities in the Northeast Health District in its report.

While one new confirmed COVID-19 Positive Resident had been identified in the Department of Community Health records, the actual number of currently active cases had dropped from 211 on Wednesday to 205 on Thursday.

The recent arrested growth of COVID-19 cases in the area’s long-term care facilities is good news, but it does mean that the continued growth of cases in the District is occurring outside those facilities where the disease can spread more widely.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Thursday that the number of Critical Care Beds available at area hospitals increased on Thursday to 24 from 22 on Wednesday.

For statewide data and charts for both the Northeast Health District and the state, please go to Oconee County Observations.