We are publishing a special Wednesday COVID report because of the change in Bulloch and Georgia's risk level. Bulloch reported 56 positive cases today. In the past two days, since Monday's weekly report, Bulloch has reported 94 new COVID cases.
EGRMC has reduced visitors and GA DPH has reminded citizens not to go to hospital Emergency Departments for COVID testing.
Local businesses are reporting high numbers of employees out sick due to COVID exposure. Many of them are already short staffed due to colleges being out for the holiday break. Please keep this in mind and be very patient with local businesses. The next few weeks are going to be very challenging for them as positive COVID numbers continue to rise rapidly.
It is time to increase precautions, especially if you are not vaccinated and fall into one of the high risk categories. With the spread this fast, you must assume that at least one person in a small crowd is positive.
COVID testing options
At home COVID test kits are very hard to find. Urgent cares are very busy and are reporting heavy COVID testing. Most are now testing by appointment.
McCooks Pharmacy is the only pharmacy we are aware of that has at home test kits. They have a limited supply at the time this story was published. Other local pharmacies are receiving limited supplies daily. Local pharmacies seem to have a good supply of in pharmacy test. These nor the at home test are covered by insurance at this time.
The only free COVID testing is the Mako Medical testing site downtown. It is a send out PCR test and it will take a day or so to get results back. Click here to register for a free COVID test at the Mako Medical testing site.
Bulloch COVID report
In this special Wednesday, COVID report EGRMC has 7 COVID patients in the hospital today. 1 EGRMC patients are sick enough to require vents.
EGRMC ICU capacity if very high at 95%. These are not COVID patients but patients with high acuity. This is concerning as the COVID numbers rise.
COVIDACTNOW.ORG has increased Bulloch County's risk level to VERY high. The Georgia statewide risk level has increased to SEVERE.
GA DPH reported 8,148 PCR COVID positive cases and 3,368 antigen/rapid test positives today. That is an increase of 94 since Monday, December 27. (two days - we only had 100 positives the prior week)
GA DPH is reporting 2 COVID deaths since Monday, December 27 for Bulloch County.
225 Bulloch county citizens total have died of COVID since the pandemic began.
Slide left to right to see COVID spread in 2 days
COVID boosters are now available for all three vaccines. Also COVID-19 vaccines may be administered without regard to timing of other vaccines. This includes simultaneous administration of COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines on the same day.
Booster Eligibility for those who received either Pfizer or Moderna:
Everyone 18 years of age plus 6 months after second shot.
Booster eligibility for those who received the J&J:
18 years of age plus 2 months after your receiving the single shot dose.
Which booster should you get?
Any one of the 3 approved vaccines. It is better to get what is available than to worry about matching what you received the first time.
Dr. Frank Davis, M.D., Grice Connect Medical Advisor
CLICK HERE FOR ANSWERS TO COVID TESTING QUESTIONS
CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST OF FREE VACCINE LOCATIONS
FREE PCR COVID TESTING:
DPH downtown Free testing is available first come Monday Through Friday, 8 AM to 3 PM. However you must be preregistered to get a COVID test. You may call 1-855-473-4374, and a DPH agent will assist you with registration. You can also register online by clicking here.
Once you are registered you can go to the testing site located in the parking lot located on the East Side of Railroad Street between Hill St and Courtland Street under a white drive thru tent.
This is a PCR test which takes 3 to 5 days to get the results.
Rapid Antigen COVID Testing:
At home COVID test are available at local pharmacies.
All urgent cares and most doctors offices and pharmacies have rapid testing capability. However these are not free. Insurance will cover the test if it is performed in a doctors office or urgent care.
Insurance will not pay for test done in a pharmacy. Test begin at $75. You get the results in about 15 minutes for rapid tests.
EGRMC IS NOT DOING COIVD TESTING AT THE HOSPITAL OR IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
PLEASE DO NOT GO TO EGRMC E.D. FOR COVID TESTING.
East Georgia Regional Medical Center (EGRMC) in Statesboro is asking for citizens to NOT go to the E.D. for COVID testing. They are conserving testing supplies for their patients. COVID testing options are listed below in this report.
FREE COVID TESTING DOWNTOWN STATESBORO
The Southeast Health District has expanded FREE COVID-19 testing at the downtown Statesboro location to daily testing. The testing location is in the parking lot located on the East Side of Railroad Street between Hill St and Courtland Street under a white drive thru tent.
Test are available now Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., Last Saturday of the month from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.
To schedule an appointment at the downtown COVID-19 testing site, you may call 1-855-473-4374, and a DPH agent will assist you. You can also schedule an appointment online by clicking here.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST OF FREE VACCINE LOCATIONS - Please get vaccinated today
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 an important member of the GC team. We will continue to update and adapt the data in this report to make it relevant. We have shifted our emphasis to vaccinations, while continuing to provide daily Coroncavirus impact.
Thanks for supporting and following Grice Connect.
