NE Health District Adds 123 COVID Cases, One Death

The Northeast Health District added 123 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday, pushing up the seven-day rolling average of added cases to 86.9, the highest that figure has been since Sept. 24. The seven-day rolling average of added cases had been 85.6 on Thursday.

The 10-county Northeast Health District added one additional death, of a 79-year-old male in Greene County without a chronic condition. The death was the 25th in Greene County and the 282nd in the District as a whole.

The seven-day rolling average of added deaths dropped from 2.0 on Thursday to 1.7 on Friday.

Every county in the Northeast Health District added at least two cases. Oconee County added four and Clarke County added 40. The seven-day rolling averages of added cases increased slightly in both counties on Friday over Thursday.

Oconee County Schools, in its Weekly COVID-19 Status Report, listed six Active COVID-19 Cases in the system’s 11 schools, up from four a week earlier, and 31 Active Quarantines Due To Close Contact, down from 56 a week earlier.

Oconee County Schools does not provide any data on the schools with the cases and quarantines or whether the cases involved students, faculty or staff. Forwarded email messages from parents during the past week indicate one of the cases was at High Shoals Elementary School and another was at Malcom Bridge Middle School.

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Friday the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (59) was an increase from the day before, that the number of ICU beds in use (63) decreased from the day before, and that the number of adult ventilators in use (30) decreased from the day before.

The Department of Public Health reported no new cases of COVID-19 in the long-term care facilities in the Northeast Health District.

For charts summarizing the local and state data, please go to Oconee County Observations.