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Bulloch, Candler & Evans Counties Daily COVID-19 Report

All citizens of Bulloch, Candler & Evans Counties are asked to wear their masks in public areas where social distancing is not an option, avoid large gatherings & wash their hands often.
Bulloch County COVID-19 Report 122020 (1)

All citizens of Bulloch, Candler & Evans Counties are asked to wear their masks in public areas where social distancing is not an option, avoid large gatherings & wash their hands often. It is imperative to do your part to squash the spread of COVID-19.

The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) has launched the Georgia COVID-19 vaccine status dashboard that will track the number of providers enrolled to give vaccines, allocations and shipments from vaccine manufacturers, and vaccines administered. The dashboard will reflect the previous day’s totals, and will be updated Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. The dashboard can be found on the DPH website at https://dph.georgia.gov.

Act as though EVERYONE is Positive in Bulloch County

This is definitely the case now in Bulloch County. Local leaders are pleading with ALL Bulloch counties to operate for the next few weeks as if EVERYONE you come in contact with is positive. It is imperative that we all wear masks, avoid crowds and social distance. Please reconsider gathering with large groups for Christmas and New Year's.

Bulloch COVID Testing Options

Local doctors' offices and urgent cares can provide PCR COVID testing and some have rapid testing capability. However, only a few are providing the rapid test to the general public and the price for testing varies based on insurance from $80 to $175 for rapid testing locally.

DPH and East Georgia Heath Care, which is a federally subsidized clinic, are the two free options for testing. DPH only offers PCR testing and they require you to complete an online questionnaire to determine eligibility for testing. However, East Georgia Health Center is also having difficulty with rapid testing supplies.

East Georgia Health Care - PCR, Rapid Antigen testing


Statesboro Urgent Care - PCR, Rapid Antigen testing

Statesboro Total Health - PCR, Rapid Antigen testing and Rapid Molecular testing

Applecare - PCR, Rapid Antigen and Rapid Molecular testing

 

South Georgia Immediate Care - which is now St. Joseph's Urgent Care - PCR, Rapid Antigen testing

 

WHITE HOUSE COVID TASK FORCE BULLOCH RECOMMENDATIONS:

CLICK HERE FOR Region J Hospital Bed and Ventilator Usage


Bulloch County Report

  • Bulloch County 14 day average of positive cases per 100,000 is 258and 7 day average of percent of positive tests is 13.8%.  (Targets are below 100 per 100,000 and positive tests at 5% or below).
  • 3,651 Total confirmed cases and 57 deaths which include 36 confirmed & 21 probable deaths reported here with 162 hospitalizations total.  Up 18 confirmed since yesterday.  (These figures apply to Bulloch County residents).
  • EGRMC currently/today caring for 21 COVID-19 positive patients today. (May or may not be Bulloch County residents.) 8 COVID-19 patients on vents.  EGRMC has 17 total vents.  However, this is reporting only COVID-19 patients on vents.  It is unknown how many actual vents are in use at this time at EGRMC.  

Bulloch Schools, Colleges and University Report

Bulloch County Schools 

https://www.bullochschools.org/covid19dailyreport

Georgia Southern University

  • Updated weekly on Monday.  Click link below for totals:

https://www.georgiasouthern.edu/covid-19-information/exposure-health/

East Georgia State College

  • Updated daily/weekdays. Click link below for totals:

http://www.ega.edu/covid19

Ogeechee Technical College

  • Updated weekly on Monday.  Click link below for totals:

https://www.ogeecheetech.edu/1976


Candler County Report:

  • Candler County 14 day average of positive cases per 100,000 is 138 and the 7 day average of percent of positive tests is 1.1%.  (Targets are below 100 per 100,000 and positive tests at 5% or below).
  • 603 total confirmed cases and 36 total deaths which include 28 confirmed & 8 probable deaths reported with 50 total hospitalizations. (This is an increase of 1 confirmed cases, an increase of 0 hospitalizations and an increase of 0 deaths for Candler County from yesterday)

Evans County Report:

  • Evans County 14 day average of positive cases per 100,000 is 440 and the 7 day average of percent of positive tests is 16.9%.  (Targets are below 100 per 100,000 and positive tests at 5% or below).
  • 582 Total confirmed cases and 13 total deaths which include 8 confirmed & 5 probable deaths reported with 57 total hospitalizations in Evans. (This is an increase of 3 confirmed cases, increase of 1 hospitalization and 0 deaths for Evans County from yesterday)


BULLOCH LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY REPORT

 

BULLOCH, CANDLER & EVANS COUNTIES COVID-19 DEATHS


About This Report

 

A special thanks to Dr. Frank Davis, M.D. F.A.C.S, a retired trauma surgeon who lives in Bulloch County. He has worked closely with the Grice Connect team to design the COVID-19 dashboard and provide brief interpretation of the data. You will be seeing and hearing more from Dr. Davis as he continues to help us monitor the COVID-19 impact locally.

We also want to thank Sean Davis and his team at Glenn Davis Insurers and Auto Owners Insurers for stepping up to sponsor this massive effort daily. They understand the importance of providing the best local data possible so their clients, family and friends can navigate this continuing crisis.

Thanks for supporting and following Grice Connect.

DPH Not Reporting Rapid Test Positives in Daily Numbers

The numbers we are reporting daily from DPH are not telling an accurate picture of what is really happening in our community now. The primary issue is Georgia DPH's refusal to follow the White House's COVID task force recommendations to combine all positive test results. Currently Georgia only reports a positive case if it is done by the PCR method, not rapid antigen test.

The PCR test is now taking 48 to 72 hours to get results back. The rapid test takes only minutes. After pressure from health care providers and media, DPH began reporting the number of rapid positives statewide daily and by county on a weekly basis.

On Monday, we will get the rapid test positive numbers for the last seven days. However, DPH continues to refuse to use the total positive cases to calculate critical indicators, like percent positives, which allow citizens and leaders to determine the seriousness of the outbreak. This makes it appear that the COVID outbreak is not as severe as it may actually be.

DPH Definitions of Deaths

“Confirmed Deaths”: This number includes confirmed COVID-19 cases that were either reported to DPH as deceased by healthcare providers or medical examiners/coroners, identified by death certificates with COVID-19 indicated as the cause of death, or there is evidence that COVID-19 contributed to the individual’s death.

“Probable Deaths”: This number includes individuals who are antigen positive or individuals with compatible illness and known close contact to a case that were either reported to DPH as deceased by healthcare providers or medical examiners/coroners, identified by death certificates with COVID-19 indicated as the cause of death, or there is evidence that COVID contributed to the individual’s death OR individuals with a death certificate that has COVID-19 indicated as the cause of death and there is no laboratory evidence for SARS-CoV-2.

Rapid COVID Test now Available in Statesboro

Currently Applecare, South Georgia Immediate Care and the new Statesboro Urgent Care all have rapid antigen testing capability. These antigen tests will not show in the daily numbers of positive cases for Bulloch. You do not have to be a resident of Statesboro to get tested.

White House Task Force Recommends Including Rapid Test Results

Georgia is not currently combining molecular (PCR) and antigen (rapid) test results, which is recommended by the White House COVID Task Force. Instead Georgia reports them separately daily statewide and provides county antigen positives on a weekly basis. With the rapid accessibility of rapid testing, this will greatly impact the number of positive cases.

In last weeks White House report they explained that antigen tests perform well in the highly infectious window and will be effective in identification of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic infectious cases.
• Antigen tests do not perform well after 8-10 days post infection when nucleic acid cycle times are greater than 30.
• All antigen results must be reported with both the number of positive results and total tests conducted; positives must be reported as COVID cases.