NE Health District Reports Record Number Of COVID-19 Cases

Oconee GA

15 December, 2020

10:53 PM

Description

The Department of Public Health reported a record number of COVID-19 cases–467--in the 10-county Northeast Health District on Tuesday, plus two deaths from the disease. The Department of Community Health also reported a COVID-19 death at a long-term care facility in the Northeast Health District and a continued outbreak of the disease at Clarke County long-term care homes as well as at these facilities throughout the District. Oconee County Schools since Friday has notified parents of at least 15 new active cases of COVID-19 at the county's schools–tying the record number of active cases reported on Friday. The two deaths listed in the Department of Public Health Daily Status Report were of a 90-plus-year-old female in Elbert County without a chronic condition and of an 86-year-old female in Jackson County without a known chronic condition. The Department of Community Health, in its Tuesday Long-Term Care Facility Report, listed a death from COVID-19 among residents of The Retreat at Loganville personal care home in Walton County. The Report does not list characteristics of the deceased. The Department of Public Health also eliminated the death of an 18-year-old male from Madison County without a known chronic condition that it had included in Monday's report. The net of one death from the disease in Tuesday's Daily Status Report pushed up the seven-day rolling average of added deaths in this official tally of deaths from COVID-19 to 1.6 from 1.4 on Monday. The Department of Public Health reported 321 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 based on molecular tests in the 10 counties that make up the Northeast Health District and 146 cases identified through the rapid antigen tests. The total of 467 exceeds the previous high of 431 on Dec. 10. The seven-day rolling average of added cases based on a combination of the tests climbed to 346.3 on Tuesday, the highest level since the state began reporting both molecular and antigen tests results on Nov. 3. The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) reported on Tuesday that the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals (171) decreased by two from the day before, that the number of ICU beds in use (68) increased by one from the day before, and that the number of adult ventilators in use (27) decreased by one from the day before. This is only a summary of local reporting on COVID-19 based on state reports on Tuesday. For details and for statewide comparisons, please click through to Oconee County Observations.