New COVID-19 cases remained stable over the weekend in Bulloch County, and weekly cases at Georgia Southern University stayed under 20 for the seventh consecutive week.
Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn said Bulloch reported 16 new cases combined for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
In his report Monday, Wynn said the county has now recorded 3,159 total COVID cases, which have resulted in 33 deaths and 148 local residents being hospitalized since the pandemic began in March.
Positive cases at Georgia Southern have stayed in a range of between 11 and 19 new cases per week since Sept. 26, with 17 cases reported for the week of Nov. 2–8. Eleven of the 17 cases this week were reported on the Statesboro campus.
The university has not reported more than 20 new cases in any single week since Sept. 20.
Georgia Southern will report again next Monday, Nov. 16.
At the same time the Bulloch County community is experiencing a leveling off of new coronavirus cases, the United States as a whole is setting records for new cases on an almost daily basis.
Confirmed infections in the U.S. eclipsed 10 million on Monday, the highest in the world. New cases are running at all-time highs of more than 100,000 per day. And tens of thousands more deaths are feared in the coming months, with the onset of cold weather and the holidays.
As of Monday afternoon, 237,835 Americans had died from coronavirus, and the U.S. had recorded 10,042,654 confirmed cases, according to statistics from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
Over the past two weeks, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has risen nearly 65%. The seven-day rolling average for daily new cases in the U.S. went from 66,294 on Oct. 25 to 108,736 on Sunday. In the past week, 1 of every 433 Americans was diagnosed with COVID-19, and hospitals in several states are running out of space and staff.
Public health officials warn that the nation could be entering the worst stretch yet for COVID-19 as winter sets in and the holiday season approaches, increasing the risk of rapid transmission as Americans travel, shop and celebrate with loved ones.
“The next two months are going to be rough, difficult ones,” said Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist and department chairman at the Yale School of Public Health. “We could see another 100,000 deaths by January.”
Locally, East Georgia Regional Medical Center staff were caring for 12 COVID patients, with five patients on ventilators.
Bulloch EMS has transported a total of 131 people with probable COVID-19 and 150 with confirmed cases.
Georgia reported 1,111 new cases on Monday and 2,964 for Saturday and Sunday combined, bringing the state’s total number of confirmed cases up to 374,181. Georgia reported 29 deaths on Monday and 122 for Saturday and Sunday combined, raising the death toll to 8,223.
Bulloch Schools
Bulloch County Schools recorded eight new cases since Thursday. The schools system now has had a total of 136 COVID cases since Aug. 17.
Local colleges
East Georgia State College reported no new cases of COVID-19 on any of its three campuses over the weekend and has recorded only one new case since Oct. 21. The college has had a total of 93 cases across its three campuses since Aug. 17.
For the second consecutive week, Ogeechee Technical College reported no new COVID cases over the previous seven-day period and has had only one new case since Oct. 19. The college has had a total of 37 cases across its campuses since Aug. 17. OTC will report again on Monday, Nov. 16.
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.