After recording a single-day record of 133 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the Georgia Department of Health reported that Bulloch County had its second highest number on Sunday with 123 confirmed COVID-19 cases within a 24-hour period. 

Prior to Thursday, Bulloch had not recorded a single day of more than 60 cases, but has had more than 60 in three of the past four days. The four-day total of 373 cases is by far Bulloch’s highest total for that time frame since the first COVID-19 case was reported on March 27. The previous highest four-day total for Bulloch was July 1-4, when 144 new cases were reported.

On Friday, Bulloch County Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn said the drastic increase in coronavirus cases could be linked to “Georgia Southern University students returning and school starting back.”

Georgia Southern is reporting coronavirus cases on a weekly basis and its second report is due Monday. Last week, Georgia Southern reported 71 total cases – 61 cases at the Statesboro campus, 10 cases at the Armstrong campus in Savannah and none at the Liberty campus in Hinesville.

On Friday, Bulloch County Schools reported 28 known cases of COVID-19, which has resulted in 350 students and staff being quarantined as a precaution.

The 123 new cases reported Sunday bring the total number of confirmed cases in Bulloch to 1,919 since the start of the pandemic. In his daily report to the public, Wynn said East Georgia Regional Medical Center staff were caring for 18 patients Sunday, six of whom were on ventilators.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Bulloch County has reported 113 hospitalizations and 21 deaths. Bulloch County EMS has transported a total of 99 people with probable COVID-19 and 92 with confirmed cases, he said.

In Georgia, the state reported 1,298 new cases Sunday, the first time the state has been below at least 2,000 new daily cases since June 30. Also, the cases Sunday were more than 1,000 less than were reported on Saturday. Georgia’s total number of confirmed cases is 268,973. The state reported 28 deaths Sunday, raising the death toll to 5,604.

In the United States, 182,700 Americans have died from coronavirus, and the U.S. has recorded 5,991,100 confirmed cases, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.