Seven-Day Rolling Average Added COVID-19 Cases Continues To Rise

The Northeast Health District added 77 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Sunday, pushing up the seven-day rolling average of added cases for the eighth day in a row. The rolling average is the highest it has been since Sept. 21.

Every county except Morgan and Greene in the 10-county Northeast Health District added cases on Sunday, with Oconee County adding seven cases and Clarke County adding 21. The seven-day rolling average for both Oconee and Clarke counties increased slightly on Sunday over Saturday.

Across all 10 counties, the seven-day rolling average of added cases was 106.0, up from 104.4 on Saturday.

The Northeast Health District added no new deaths attributed to COVID-19 on Sunday, and the seven-day rolling average of added deaths dropped from 1.7 on Saturday to 1.4 on Sunday.

The increased number of COVID-19 cases is reflected in the hospital data reported on Sunday by the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA).

GHA and GEMA reported on Sunday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (60) was an increase of 10 from the day before, that the number of ICU beds in use (62) was an increase of two from the day before, and that the number of adult ventilators in use (22) decreased by two from the day before.

Area hospitals have a capacity of 70 ICU units, and the 62 occupied is down from six days earlier.

Oconee County’s seven-day rolling average of positivity of molecular tests was 6.8 percent on Friday, when 14 tests for that day were reported. For Clarke County, that figure was 6.0 percent. On Friday, 47 tests performed that day were recorded in Clarke County.

Oconee County’s positivity rate has been decreasing in the last four days, while Clarke’s has been increasing.

For more on the story, with charts summarizing local and state data, please click through to Oconee County Observations.