Bulloch County reported 11 new COVID-19 cases in the past two days, including just one case on Tuesday, but Georgia recorded more than 4,000 cases in a single day for the first time in nearly four months.
Also, officials around the state are seeing more cases that require hospitalization, at the same time more Americans are being hospitalized than at any point since the pandemic began in March.
In his report Wednesday, Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn said the county has now recorded 3,305 total COVID cases, which have resulted in 35 deaths and 152 local residents being hospitalized since the pandemic began in March.
Also, the Department of Health is reporting an additional 20 deaths probably were caused by COVID. According to the Georgia DPH, the 20 non-confirmed deaths represent Bulloch citizens who received a positive antigen/rapid test for COVID-19, developed COVID-19 symptoms and subsequently died.
Georgia hospitalizations rise
Some Georgia hospitals have seen a steady and troubling rise in COVID patients in recent weeks. And hospital leaders are worried that gatherings during the Thanksgiving holidays will drive those numbers even higher in the next couple of weeks.
Many states are currently being hit harder than Georgia in terms of a COVID hospital crunch. A record-high 98,691 virus patients were hospitalized in the United States as of Tuesday evening, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Still, there are currently 2,634 COVID patients hospitalized in Georgia, the Tracking Project reported Tuesday. That total is 336 more than the previous Tuesday and the state has not seen a number that high since Aug. 14. The single-day record for most hospitalizations was July 30, when 3,200 people were hospitalized in Georgia.
In Georgia, the rising hospitalization trend is not occurring statewide, including Statesboro and Bulloch County. East Georgia Regional Medical Center is currently treating 11 COVID patients, including three on ventilators. In Wynn’s daily reports, the number of daily local hospitalizations has hovered in the 8-15 range for several months, with a single-day high of 28 on Sept. 26.
Wynn biggest fear since the number of cases in Bulloch County began to rise in July is that East Georgia and other local facilities might be overwhelmed with COVID cases. But that situation has been avoided to this date.
Memorial Health in Savannah said Tuesday that it’s treating 40 COVID patients in the hospital, double the total from Nov. 18.
“Certainly an increase in number of patients increases the demands on PPE and staffing to appropriately care for patients,’’ said Dr. Stephen Thacker, associate chief medical officer and pediatric infectious disease specialist for Memorial.
“As part of HCA Healthcare, we have continued to manage our PPE well throughout the pandemic, never running out. Nursing shortages across the nation impact us here locally as well. We have been actively recruiting, hiring and training new staff to meet our patient care needs.’’
Augusta University Medical Center (AUMC) said it has seen a slow rise in hospitalizations and ventilator use for COVID-19 patients, and 43 such patients are in the hospital currently.
AU Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Phillip Coule said that “overall, AUMC has managed to maintain normal operations with the additional COVID patients, but we will continue to watch the situation closely and are anxiously awaiting the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.’’
But large health systems such as Wellstar, Emory, Piedmont, Northside and Northeast Georgia have seen steady patient increases.
Emory Healthcare has seen a doubling of its hospitalized COVID patients over the past month, said Dr. Jonathan Lewin, CEO of the 11-hospital Atlanta-based system.
Emory’s COVID hospitalization numbers aren’t as high as during the July/August surge, but they’re still troubling, he said.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s office said the governor was meeting with hospital CEOs on Wednesday to discuss COVID developments.
State, National case numbers
Georgia reported 4,094 cases on Wednesday – the highest single-day total since 4,371 cases were recorded on Aug. 8. The state has recorded 20,336 new cases in the past eight days, bringing the state's total number of confirmed cases up to 428,980. The state has averaged more than 2,500 new cases per day for the past two weeks. Georgia reported 35 deaths on Wednesday, raising the death toll to 8,830.
According to statistics from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, as of Wednesday afternoon, 272,052 Americans had died from coronavirus. Also, Johns Hopkins reported the U.S. has had 13,805,573 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
Bulloch Schools
The Bulloch County Schools system has reported three new cases this week for a total of 183 COVID cases since classes started on Aug. 17.
Local colleges
Georgia Southern reported 13 cases for the week of Nov. 23–29, down six cases from the previous week. Eleven of the 13 cases last week were reported on the Statesboro campus.
Georgia Southern will report again next Monday, Dec. 7.
East Georgia State College reported one new case of COVID-19 on Saturday, its first case since Nov. 19. The college has had a total of 101 cases across its three campuses since Aug. 17.
Ogeechee Technical College reported no new positive COVID tests for the week of Nov. 23-29. The college has had a total of 38 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 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 Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon at Luetta Moore Park, 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
The Georgia Health News contributed to this report.