Oconee County Adds Two COVID-19 Deaths In State Health Report

The Northeast Health District added 287 COVID-19 cases on Monday when the Department of Public Health released its Daily Status Report and added two deaths from the disease–both in Oconee County.

The seven-day rolling average of added cases and deaths both increased with the release of the Monday Report.

The two Oconee County deaths were of a 51-year-old male without a chronic condition and of an 89-year-old male, also without a chronic condition.

The seven-day rolling average of added deaths from COVID-19 increased from 1.9 on Sunday to 2.0 on Monday.

The Department of Public Health listed 264 COVID-19 cases confirmed via molecular tests and an additional 23 cases identified through molecular tests. The seven-day rolling average of added cases based on a combination of the results of the two tests increased from 387.1 on Sunday to 399.3 on Monday.

Oconee County added 21 cases based on the two tests on Monday, and Clarke County added 52. The seven-day rolling average of added cases in Oconee increased to 32.7 on Monday from 31.4 on Sunday. In Clarke County, the seven-day rolling average increased to 71.0 from 67.1.

In Oconee County, the positivity rate for molecular tests completed last Thursday was 22.7 percent, compared with 8.5 percent a week earlier. And the seven-day rolling average on Dec. 17 (last Thursday) was 18.3 percent, compared with 11.3 a week earlier.

Oconee County schools ended the fall term on Friday, but Malcom Bridge Middle School Principal Mike Eddy sent an email to parents of students at the school at 6:04 p.m. on Monday saying “On Dec. 21, 2020, we were alerted that two individuals in our school tested positive for COVID-19.”

The Department of Community Health, in its Long-Term Care Facility Report on Monday, listed five new COVID-19 Positive Residents and one new case of the disease among staff at the Northeast Health District’s long-term care homes.

The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Monday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (156) decreased by one from the day before, that the number of ICU beds in use (65) decreased by one from the day before, and that the number of adult ventilators in use (33) increased by one from the day before.

This is only a summary of the information on COVID-19 at the local and state level included in the full post at Oconee County Observations.