Bulloch County saw 29 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, according to numbers from the Georgia Department of Public Health that county Public Safety Director Ted Wynn noted in his Friday report..
That brought Bulloch County’s total to 261 confirmed cases since reporting on the pandemic began. The Department of Public Health considers a county to be in “substantial spread,” the highest category of community spread, if it has more than 100 cases per 100,000 residents, Wynn reported. Bulloch has a few less than 80,000 residents, according to recent census estimates.
“When we went above 100 cases per 100,000, which we’re at 328.44 (per 100,000) now, with 261 confirmed positives, that put us into that substantial category,” Wynn said on the phone.
Media reports from other parts of Georgia suggest that community spread determinations for school opening decisions may be based on the number of new cases per capita in a 14-day period, rather than the cumulative total. But at this point, Bulloch would also far surpass that mark.
“We’ve seen an increase of over 100 in the last seven to 10 days,” Wynn noted Friday.
Bulloch saw its largest one-day increase so far, 36 cases, in the 24 hours before his Wednesday report.
The Bulloch County resident death toll from the disease has not increased recently, remaining at three. So far, 20 Bulloch residents have been hospitalized with COVID-19. This increased by one person in Friday’s report.
East Georgia Regional Medical Center was caring for eight COVID-19 patients, who may or may not be Bulloch residents. The number of coronavirus patients in the hospital was down from a peak of 12.
Bulloch County EMS transported two positive COVID-19 patients Thursday. To date, the Emergency Medical Service had transported 28 probable COVID-19 patients and 13 confirmed. The number of confirmed transports had increased by two in 24 hours.
The SPOC/Specimen Point of Collection site is located at the local Health Department, 1 West Altman Street in Statesboro. For an appointment, please call 855-473-4374.
Again, people should not go to the hospital to seek COVID-19 testing. East Georgia Regional Medical Center is currently only able to test inpatients and those undergoing urgent surgical procedures.