Record Number Of COVID-19 Cases Added In NE District

After two days when the Department of Public Health added only three confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Northeast Health District, the Daily Status Report on Wednesday added 68 new cases, the largest number ever added in a single day in the region.

The second largest number added in the 10-county Northeast Health District was a week ago, underscoring the seemingly erratic but patterned nature of reporting of cases to the Department of Public Health.

The seven-day rolling average of added cases, which smooths out some of the differential reporting across days of the week, increased from 15.1 on Tuesday to 17.6 cases per day on Wednesday.

Most of the added cases on Wednesday–54–were in Barrow County, which added 24 cases a week ago when the district had 51 new cases, but Walton County added six cases, Elbert County added four and Clarke County added two.

Oconee County did not add any new cases, and the number of cases in the county in the Daily Status Report, 66, has remained the same for six days.

Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry on Wednesday reported no new Active COVID-19 Cases, based on the information provided to him by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, and the total number of Active Cases in Oconee County stands at 20.

The Northeast Health District added one death on Wednesday, of an 86-year-old male with existing conditions in Barrow County. The cumulative number of deaths in the District attributed to COVID-19 is 40.

The Department of Public Health Long-Term Care Facilities Report released Tuesday afternoon reported no new deaths in the Northeast Health District’s nursing and personal care homes since release of the report on Monday.

The report also listed no new cases among either patients or staff at the Northeast Health District long-term care facilities.

For more on this story, with charts showing data for the Northeast Health District and for the state of Georgia, please go to Oconee County Observations.