Six New COVID-19 Deaths Reported At Northeast Area Nursing Home

The Northridge Health and Rehabilitation nursing home in Commerce added six new deaths among its residents in the Department of Community Health Long-Term Care Facility Report on Tuesday.

The Jackson County nursing home has reported 10 deaths at the facility since June 29 and currently has 58 of its 105 residents testing positive. It also has reported that the cumulative number of staff with COVID-19 is 17.

The nursing home now has 14 cumulative deaths listed in the Department of Community Health report. Jackson County as a whole has only 12 cumulative deaths recorded in the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report as of Tuesday.

Since June 29, Northridge Health and Rehabilitation has reported the 10 resident deaths, while the Daily Status Report has listed only two in Jackson County during that time period.

The discrepancy between the Department of Community Health and Department of Public Health reports underscores the problem of making sense of the data released by three different state agencies on the trends in the spread of COVID-19 and its consequences.

The Department of Public Health did not report any deaths on Tuesday in the 10-county Northeast Health District, which includes Jackson County as well as Oconee and Clarke counties, and the seven-day rolling average of deaths remained unchanged from Monday at 1.3.

The Daily Status Report listed 101 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday in the District, with all 10 counties reporting an increase in cases. The seven-day rolling average of added cases dropped from 104.1 on Monday to 102.4 on Tuesday.

Oconee County added nine cases and Clarke County added 30.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported in its Tuesday Situation Report COVID-19 that the number of critical care beds available at area hospitals dropped from 11 on Monday to seven on Tuesday.

For key state COVID-19 statistics and for charts summarizing regional and state data, please go to Oconee County Observations.