As area residents opted to be tested for COVID-19 in numbers never seen since the pandemic began in March 2020, new confirmed cases have seen a small drop at the same time COVID patients hospitalized at East Georgia Regional Medical Center dipped slightly, as well.
Long lines have been evident for the past two weeks at the MAKO Medical COVID testing center in downtown Statesboro. In fact, for the week of Aug. 9-15, 1,144 tests were performed under the white tent located in the parking lot off Railroad St. That was the most since 1,257 people were tested in Bulloch County during the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 6, 2020.
For the 16-county Southeast Health District, which includes Bulloch, 2,163 tests were administered Aug. 9-15 – the most in any single week of the pandemic.
And those are just the tests administered by the Public Health Department.
“Tests are also performed by private physicians, hospitals, federally qualified health centers and urgent care centers, among others, so the (2,163 number) is not a comprehensive total of all testing done in our area,” said Katie Hadden, public information officer for Southeast Health District.
In the wake of the record-high testing numbers, the actual number of confirmed new COVID cases has seen a decline since last week. The Georgia Department of Public Health reported an average of 60 new cases per day last week in Bulloch, but only 41 new cases have been reported since Monday – 14 on Tuesday and 27 on Wednesday.
Also, after reaching a pandemic high of 54 COVID patients hospitalized at East Georgia on Saturday, the number had declined to 46 patients on Wednesday, though 15 patients remain on ventilators.
Georgia, national cases
The Department of Health reported 4,962 confirmed cases Wednesday and the total number of cases since the pandemic began now exceeds one million at 1,005,806.
New cases around the U.S. are now averaging about 140,000 per day, up 10,000 since Monday, according to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, along with an average of 690 deaths per day due to COVID.
Testing
MAKO Medical offers testing services on Railroad St. in downtown Statesboro Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on the last Saturday of each month from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
MAKO will ask for your insurance, but patients without insurance will not have to pay anything for testing. Results are available in two to three days.
Vaccines are readily available at area pharmacies, doctors’ offices, East Georgia Regional Medical Center and the Bulloch County Health Department.