NE Health District Adds Four Deaths From COVID, 187 New Cases

The Northeast Health District added four deaths from COVID-19, 109 confirmed cases of the disease based on molecular tests, and 78 cases based on antigen tests with the release of the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Friday.

The four deaths were of a female in Oconee County with chronic conditions listed as 90 plus years in age, a 68-year-old female in Barrow County without a chronic condition, an 82-year-old female in Barrow County without a known chronic condition, and a 78-year-old female in Elbert County with a chronic condition.

The seven-day rolling average of added deaths held steady at 1.4, as the District had added four deaths on Friday a week ago.

The Department of Community Health also listed two deaths from COVID-19 in its Friday Long-Term Care Facility Report, including one in Oconee County at Magnolia Estates of Oconee, 1641 Virgil Langford Road. It is the third death reported at the Oconee County facility.

The second death listed in the Department of Community Health Report was at Bountiful Hills personal care home in Jackson County.

The 109 confirmed cases based on molecular tests pushed up the seven-day rolling average of added cases from that test to 94.1. The Department of Public Health has reported antigen tests outcomes only starting on Tuesday. The 78 positive antigen tests reported on Friday compared with 31 on Thursday.

Every county in the Northeast Health District except Oconee County added cases from molecular tests on Friday. Clarke County added 41.

Oconee County had lost two cases on Friday of last week, and the seven day rolling-average of added cases in both Oconee and Clarke counties increased on Friday.

Oconee County added five cases based on antigen tests and Clarke County added 22.

Oconee County Schools at 4:07 p.m. on Friday reported five Active COVID-19 Cases in the system’s 11 schools, down from six a week earlier, and 26 Active Quarantines Due to Close Contact, up from 19 a week earlier.

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Friday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (73) increased by three from the day before, that the number of ICU beds in use (60) increased by one from the day before, and that the number of adult ventilators in use (26) increased by one from the day before.

Friday was the sixth day in a row that the number of COVID-19 patients had increased at area hospitals.

For more local reporting, for state data, and for charts summarizing local and state data, please go to Oconee County Observations.