With two confirmed COVID-19 cases reported Monday, Bulloch County recorded its lowest single-day total since two also were reported on June 16, said Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn.
The last time Bulloch saw no daily cases was June 3.
Monday’s low number comes on the heels of Bulloch County recording a full week with less than 100 new cases of COVID-19. For the week that ended Sunday, Sept. 21–27, there were 92 total confirmed cases. Not since June 15–21 had Bulloch had a seven-day total of fewer than 100 new cases, when there were 54 cases recorded in that June time frame.
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.
The drop in cases began after Georgia Southern reported 508 cases for the week of Aug. 24–30. Cases declined to 363 for Aug. 31–Sept. 6, 95 for Sept. 7–13 and the 54 for Sept. 14–20.
“(Monday’s) report reflects a fourth consecutive week of decline in confirmed and self-reported cases, with no single day last week registering more than five positive reports,” a statement read on Georgia Southern’s COVID-19 website.
Despite the positive weekly trend, Bulloch recorded three deaths this past week due to the coronavirus, including the county’s 28th fatality on Saturday. Wynn said the victim was a 69-year-old woman with comorbidities.
With two new cases Monday, 16 Saturday and five on Sunday, Wynn said Bulloch has now recorded 2,882 COVID cases, which have resulted in 28 deaths and 132 local residents being hospitalized since the pandemic began in March.
Wynn said East Georgia Regional Medical Center staff were caring for 27 patients Monday, up from 18 patients on Friday. Six patients are on ventilators.
Bulloch EMS has transported a total of 125 people with probable COVID-19 and 132 with confirmed cases, he said.
On Monday, Georgia reported 619 new COVID cases, raising the state’s total number of confirmed cases to 315,281. Coupled with Sunday’s 826 reported cases, it was the first time Georgia has recorded two consecutive days of fewer than 1,000 new cases since June17–18. The state reported 15 deaths Monday, raising the death toll to 6,961.
As of Monday afternoon, 204,967 Americans had died from coronavirus, and the U.S. had recorded 7,139,734 confirmed cases, according to statistics from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
Bulloch County Schools
In its daily report, Bulloch County Schools reported three new cases Monday, raising the total number of cases confirmed since school began on Aug. 17 to 92.
Also, Bulloch County reported 282 students and employees were under quarantine as of Monday. The school system reported 224 were under quarantine on Friday.
Local colleges
East Georgia State College has recorded no new, self-reported cases of COVID-19 on the Statesboro campus since Sept. 14.
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 Monday.
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.