Department Of Health Removes COVID-19 Cases From Counts In Region

The Georgia Department of Public Health in its noon Daily Status Report on Sunday removed or reassigned 14 confirmed COVID-19 cases allocated to six of the counties in the Northeast Health District at noon on Saturday and added 11 cases to the remaining four.

The Daily Status Report offered no explanation for the changes in the cumulative figures. The Department of Public Health also has refused to explain how it assigns cases to counties.

The drop in the number of cases in the Northeast Health District from 621 to 618 contrasts with data for the entire state in the noon Daily Status Report.

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state increased by 706 on Sunday, to 23,401. The state added 548 confirmed cases at noon on Saturday and 632 at noon a week ago, on April 19.

The seven-day rolling average of confirmed cases across the state increased from 718.0 at noon on Saturday to 728.6 at noon on Sunday.

The number of deaths attributable to COVID-19 remained stable at 25 in the Northeast Health District, according to the noon Sunday Daily Status Report, and was up only by eight across the state.

The 7 p.m. Saturday Daily Status Report had listed an increase of eight confirmed COVID-19 cases from noon on Saturday, with none of the counties showing a decline. Oconee County lost two cases, and Clarke lost four, from that 7 p.m. Saturday report to the noon Sunday report.

The Department of Public Health had to reissue a 7 p.m. Daily Status Report on April 19 when it showed a decline statewide of 144 confirmed COVID-19 cases and of six deaths from noon to 7 p.m. on that date. The reissued report showed those numbers increasing.

The Department of Public Health also has issued three reports on COVID-19 at Continuing Care Facilities in the state that have been riddled with inconsistencies and have been withdrawn from the state web site.

For more on the story, with charts summarizing the data, please go to Oconee County Observations.