Health & Fitness
Oconee County Adds Second COVID-19 Death In As Many Days
Oconee County is the lowest among the 10 counties in the District in cases per population but the third highest in deaths per population.
For the second day in a row, Oconee County added a death attributed to COVID-19 with the release of the Daily Status Report by the Department of Public Health on Saturday.
Barrow County added two deaths, bringing the total number of new deaths added in the 10-county Northeast Health District to three and the total since March to 242.
The 10-county Northeast Health District added only 106 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases dropped to 133.3 from 142.3 on Friday.
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Even with the small number of new cases, every county in the District added cases, with Oconee county adding two and Clarke County adding 34.
The 10-county district, with 4.9 percent of the state’s population, accounted for 4.6 percent of the new COVID-19 cases added across the state on Saturday, the first time the District has fallen below its population weight in added cases since Aug. 18.
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Cases in the state have been increasing slightly over the last week, while they are declining in the District over that same period.
The three deaths in the District represented 4.8 percent of those added in the Daily Status Report for the whole state, or just below the District’ weight in terms of population.
The seven-day rolling average of added deaths in the Northeast Health District increased to 2.7 on Saturday from 2.4 on Friday. Deaths in the Northeast Health District and the state have been increasing the last three days.
The ratio of deaths per 100,000 population is 62.3 in Oconee County, following the much smaller counties of Greene, with 122.9 deaths per 100,000 population, and Oglethorpe, with 72.2 deaths per 100,000 population. Clarke County, with its 41 deaths, has 31.6 deaths per 100,000 population.
The anomaly is that Oconee County is the lowest among the 10 counties in the District in cases per 100,000 population. Clarke County is the highest.
The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) on Saturday reported that area hospitals had 55 COVID-19 patients, down from 61 on Friday, 64 ICU beds in use out of a capacity of 70, down from 66 on Friday, and 28 adult ventilators in use, up from 24 on Friday.
For additional local reporting and for state data, please go to Oconee County Observations.