After recording its most weekly COVID-19 cases since September, Georgia Southern saw a 20% drop this past week, but still had more than 100 new cases.
On Monday, the university reported it had 108 cases for the week of Jan. 11-17 – 84 self-reported and 24 university confirmed cases. GS had 133 positive cases the previous week.
“After completing one full week of classes in the Spring semester, the report indicates a reduction of cases from the previous week while continuing to reflect the overall increased number of COVID-19 cases in Georgia and throughout our region,” Georgia Southern said in a release about Monday’s new numbers.
The 108 new coronavirus cases include 85 on the Statesboro campus, 17 on the Armstrong-Savannah campus and six on the Liberty campus in Hinesville.
Meanwhile, Bulloch County saw a significant drop of new COVID-19 cases in the past three days as compared to the previous Saturday-Monday period. Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn said Bulloch reported 32 news cases since Friday, while 109 were reported for the same three days the previous weekend. The eight new cases reported Monday was the first time Bulloch had reported fewer than 10 cases since Christmas Day.
However, the county recorded its 41st fatality on Saturday. Wynn said the victim was a 60-year-old man who had previous health conditions.
Wynn said Bulloch recorded 10 new cases on Saturday, 14 Sunday and eight on Monday. Bulloch now has 4,233 total COVID cases, which have resulted in 41 deaths and 173 local residents being hospitalized since the pandemic began in March.
Georgia recorded 6,949 new cases on Saturday, 5,402 on Sunday and 4,428 on Monday. The state's total number of confirmed cases is now up to 684,763.
The death toll in Georgia slowed down on Sunday and Monday, after 732 state residents had died in the previous five days combined. Only three deaths were reported Sunday and 63 on Monday, pushing the total to 11,095 deaths since March.
Hospitalizations
Wynn said East Georgia Regional Medical Center staff on Monday were caring for 27 COVID patients, with 10 patients on ventilators. The hospital has had at least 21 COVID patients in its care since Dec. 21, reaching a peak of 31 patients twice.
COVID cases that require hospitalization are seeing a slow decline in Georgia. After setting a single-day high last Wednesday with 6,108 state residents hospitalized, that number dropped to 5,835 hospitalized on Sunday.
Across the United States, cases that require hospitalization have seen some decline, as well, since hitting a peak on Jan. 6 of 132,474 Americans in the hospital with COVID. On Sunday, hospitalizations had dropped to 124,387.
National case numbers
Coronavirus deaths are rising in nearly two-thirds of American states as a winter surge pushes the overall toll toward 400,000 amid warnings that a new, highly contagious variant is taking hold. While the variant does not cause more severe illness, it can cause more hospitalizations and deaths simply because it spreads more easily.
According to statistics from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, as of Monday afternoon, 375,373 Americans had died from coronavirus – 23,000 in the past week. Also, Johns Hopkins reported the U.S. has had 24,034,378 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, an increase of 1.6 million since last Monday.
Bulloch Schools
The Bulloch County Schools system has reported 4 new cases this week for a total of 353 COVID cases since classes started on Aug. 17. The school system has recorded 93 confirmed cases since Jan. 3.
Local colleges
East Georgia State College reported three new cases on its three campuses since last Tuesday, including one on the Statesboro campus. The college has had a total of 130 cases across its three campuses since Aug. 17.
Ogeechee Technical College reported four new cases for the week of Jan. 4-10. No new report had been posted for last week as of 5 p.m. Monday. Ogeechee Tech has had a total of 43 cases across its campuses since Aug. 17.
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 11:30 a.m. on Mondays only. To schedule a free test, call (855) 473-4374 or visit www.sehdph.org/covid-19, where a test can be scheduled online.
Beginning on Wednesday, Covid-19 testing operated by Mako Medical will be available at Luetta Moore Park, 585 Martin Luther King Drive.
Testing schedule: Monday, Wednesday – 8 a.m.-3 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday – 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Friday – 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; second & fourth Saturday of each month – 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
To register, visit https://mako.exchange/splash/GAmakotesting/