While less than 100 Bulloch County resident have taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine since April 16, new confirmed cases of the virus continue to average about three per day.
Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn said Bulloch reported 18 new COVID cases since last Wednesday, including two on Monday and one on Sunday. With only 83 new cases recorded since April 1, Bulloch is on track to see its fewest monthly cases in a year.
The county now has a total of 5,239 confirmed cases since the pandemic began in March 2020. Overall, the COVID cases have resulted in 64 confirmed deaths and 218 local residents being hospitalized since the pandemic began in March.
Also, the state Department of Health has reported 48 non-confirmed deaths, which represent Bulloch citizens who received a positive antigen/ rapid test for COVID, developed COVID-19 symptoms and then died.
Despite plenty of doses available from local providers to offer protection against getting COVID, the percentage of Bulloch County residents choosing to get the first dose remains one of the lowest in the state. In the past 10 days, 92 first doses of the vaccine were administered to Bulloch residents.
The number of locals receiving a second dose also is seeing a significant decline in the past week. After averaging nearly 200 second shots per day from April 4-20, Bulloch is well below 100 per day in the past six days.
Since vaccines first became available in December, 13,111 Bulloch residents have received at least one dose, or 17%, and 11,536 residents are fully vaccinated, or 15%.
Across Georgia, 3,509,845 residents have received at least one dose, or 34%, and 2,416,111 are fully vaccinated, or 23%. Georgia continues to rank in the bottom five of states in administering vaccines.
Local vaccine appointments are readily available at more than two dozen locations across Bulloch County, including pharmacies, East Georgia Regional Medical Center, local doctors’ offices and the Bulloch Health Department.
Local, state COVID cases
After almost two weeks with no COVID-19 patients on a ventilator at East Georgia Regional Medical Center, the hospital reported one virus patient was on a ventilator Monday, Wynn said. Also, the hospital was treating five COVID patients as of Monday, Wynn said.
State/national cases
Across the state, there were 752 new cases on Sunday and 534 on Monday. The state's total number of confirmed cases is now up to 876,146.
The state reported six deaths on Sunday and 34 on Monday. Georgia’s death toll now stands at 17,421 since March 2020.
According to statistics from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, as of Monday afternoon, 572,605 Americans had died from coronavirus. Also, Johns Hopkins reported the U.S. has had 32,113,705 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
Bulloch Schools
The Bulloch County Schools system has had no new cases this week. A total of 634 COVID cases have been reported since classes started on Aug. 17. Since the beginning of March, the system has reported a total of only 39 new cases.
Local colleges
Georgia Southern had 12 total cases reported April 19–25 — 11 self-reported and one university-confirmed case. GS reported 12 total cases for the week of April 12-18.
East Georgia State College has reported no new cases since April 18. The college has had a total of 159 cases across its three campuses since Aug. 17.
Ogeechee Technical College reported one new case the week of April 19-25 on the Bulloch campus. Ogeechee Tech has had a total of 73 cases across its campuses since Aug. 17.