NE Health District Adds 133 New COVID-19 Cases, Two Deaths

The Northeast Health District added 102 new COVID-19 confirmed cases based on molecular tests and another 31 based on antigen tests, according to the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Thursday.

The Daily Status Report also listed two confirmed deaths from the disease and one probable death. That probable death was in Clarke County.

Based on the molecular tests, the seven-day rolling average of added cases in the District dropped to 88.4 from 89.6 on Wednesday.

Only Greene County in the 10-county Northeast Health District did not add any new cases based on the molecular tests on Thursday. Oconee County added 10 cases and Clarke County added 34. The seven-day rolling average for Oconee County increased on Thursday and declined for Clarke County.

The Department of Public Health only began reporting cases based on the antigen tests on Tuesday.

Clarke County added 10 of the 31 new antigen positive cases. Oconee County did not add any.

The two confirmed deaths were of a 75-year-old male in Elbert County with a chronic condition and of a 79-year-old female in Jackson County without a known chronic condition.

The Department of Public Health did not release any data on the probable death.

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Thursday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (70) increased by seven from the day before, that the number of ICU beds in use (59) increased by one from the day before, and that the number of adult ventilators in use (25) increased by one from the day before.

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