NE Health District Adds 116 COVID-19 Cases; Rolling Average Up

The Northeast Health District added 116 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, pushing up the seven-day rolling average of added cases to 89.0 from 87.0 the day earlier. That rolling average has increased each of the last four days.

The Department of Public Health Daily Status Report listed no new deaths in the Northeast Health District, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths dropped to 1.4 on Wednesday from 1.7 on Tuesday.

Two of the counties in the Northeast Health District, Morgan and Oglethorpe, did not add any new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, but all the others added at least one case.

Oconee County added three cases and Clarke County added 27. The seven-day rolling average of added cases for both Oconee and Clarke counties fell slightly on Wednesday.

The University of Georgia reported 61 positive tests for COVID-19 among faculty, students and staff during the week of Oct. 12 to Oct. 18, up from 54 the week before. The number of total positive tests, including those not reported locally, was 84, down from 96 a week earlier.

The positivity-rate for surveillance tests at Legion Field–designed to tests drop-in volunteers without symptoms–dropped from 1.4 percent to 1.2 percent in the report on Wednesday.

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Wednesday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (49) was the same as the day before, that the number of ICU beds in use (64) decreased from the day before, and that the number of adult ventilators in use (28) was the same as the day before.

The Department of Community Health, in its Long-Term Care Facility Report for Wednesday, listed no new cases of COVID-19 among long-term care facilities in the Northeast Health District and no new reported deaths from the disease.

For more on the story, please click through to Oconee County Observations.