Northeast Health District Adds Three COVID Deaths On Saturday

In the Georgia Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Saturday, the Northeast Health District added only four confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, but it also added three deaths.

In the separate Georgia Department of Community Health Long-Term Care Facility Report for late Friday, the Northeast Health District added 10 COVID Positive resident cases at long-term care homes, two COVID Positive staff cases, and three COVID resident deaths.

The two reports rarely show consistent data, and the three deaths in the Daily Status Report from the Department of Public Health were one each in Barrow, Greene and Walton counties, while the three deaths in the Department of Community Health report were all in Barrow County.

Barrow County has a total of 10 resident deaths in long-term care facilities in the Department of Community Health Report, but only a total of eight deaths in the Department of Public Health report.

Oconee County did not add any new cases or deaths in the Daily Status Report but it did add three positive COVID cases among residents at the High Shoals Health and Rehabilitation nursing home in North High Shoals in the west of the county in the Long-Term Care Facility Report.

Based on the data in the Daily Status Report, the seven-day rolling average of cases in the Northeast Health District dropped from 18.6 on Friday to 16.3 on Saturday.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency, which also is issuing COVID updates, reported late on Friday that the number of available critical care hospital beds in area hospitals increased from 10 to 16 on Friday.

For more on this story, with charts summarizing data for the region and state from the three state reports, please go to Oconee County Observations.