In the wake of two new COVID-19 cases reported Monday and three on Tuesday, Bulloch County continued to see a significant overall decline in new COVID-19 cases with five reported on Wednesday, said Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn.
Also, Bulloch County Schools have reported no new cases of coronavirus in the past two days, and only eight cases since last Thursday.
“It certainly is encouraging to see the numbers go down across the board,” Wynn said. “I credit our citizens for being prudent in protecting themselves from the virus while, at the same time, carrying on their daily lives.”
In addition to the decrease in confirmed COVID cases, Bulloch County has seen steep declines in the percentage of tests given that come back positive and the number of cases per 100,000 county residents.
On Sept. 4, 30.2% of all tests given in Bulloch County were coming back positive for coronavirus. From that negative high, Bulloch was down to 6.4% in Wednesday’s report. Also, on Sept. 9, Bulloch’s average number of new cases for a two-week period reached a high of 1,206 cases per 100,000 population. On Wednesday, that number had fallen to 215 cases per 100,000 population for a two-week period.
Wynn pointed out that while those trends are a good sign, the numbers still are higher than the Georgia Department of Health set as targets — a less than 5% positive test rate and less than 100 cases per 100,000 population for a two-week period.
“I also want to remind folks that we don’t live in a bubble,” Wynn said. “Some of the counties around us aren’t having the success we are and they are seeing rising numbers. So, I urge people to remain vigilant and continue to be smart and do what’s best to be safe.”
With five new cases Wednesday, Wynn said Bulloch has now recorded 2,890 COVID cases, which have resulted in 28 deaths and 133 local residents being hospitalized since the pandemic began in March.
Wynn said East Georgia Regional Medical Center staff were caring for 24 patients Wednesday. Four patients are on ventilators.
Bulloch EMS has transported a total of 125 people with probable COVID-19 and 133 with confirmed cases, he said.
After recording two consecutive days of fewer than 1,000 new cases for the first time since June 17–18 on Sunday and Monday, Georgia had 1,081 cases reported Tuesday and 1,779 on Wednesday. The state’s total number of confirmed cases is now 318,026. Georgia reported 34 deaths Tuesday and 29 Wednesday, raising the death toll to 7,021.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 206,665 Americans had died from coronavirus, and the U.S. had recorded 7,219,635 confirmed cases, according to statistics from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
Bulloch County Schools
With no new cases, the total number of cases confirmed since Bulloch County Schools began on Aug. 17 is 93.
Also, BCS reported 281 students and employees were under quarantine as of Wednesday. The school system had reported 280 were under quarantine on Tuesday.
Local colleges
The positive downward trend of coronavirus cases also continued at Georgia Southern as COVID-19 cases declined for the fourth consecutive week. For the week of Sept. 21–27, the university reported 19 total cases — 16 self-reported and three university-confirmed. Fifteen of the cases were on the Statesboro campus. That was down from 54 cases the previous week.
Georgia Southern’s next update will be Oct. 5.
East Georgia State College has recorded no new, self-reported cases of COVID-19 on the Statesboro campus since Sept. 14. The college reported two news cases on its Swainsboro campus Tuesday and one Wednesday and has had a total of 76 cases across its three campuses since Aug. 17.
Ogeechee Technical College had one reported COVID case on its Bulloch County campus, the week of Sept. 21–27. OTC will report again next on Oct. 5.
Testing sites
The Bulloch County Health Department, 1 W. Altman St. in Statesboro, continues to serve as a COVID-19 testing site, or specimen point of collection. It operates 8 a.m. till noon Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. To schedule a free test, call (855) 473-4374 or visit www.sehdph.org/covid-19, where a test can be scheduled online.
Additional free COVID-19 testing continues Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Luetta Moore Park, 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.