Despite 163,000 new COVID-19 cases being reported across the United States since Friday, Bulloch County continued its two-month trend of recording a handful of new cases a day. In fact, the Georgia Department of Public Health said Bulloch had a total of seven new cases since Friday.
In his daily report, Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn said Bulloch had two cases each on Friday and Saturday and three on Sunday. The county now has a total of 5,183 confirmed cases since the pandemic began in March 2020.
However, Bulloch did record its 63rd confirmed death due to coronavirus. Wynn said the victim was a 67-year-old man with no known previous health conditions. Overall, the COVID cases have resulted in 63 confirmed deaths and 214 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-19, developed COVID-19 symptoms and then died.
Across the state, there were 587 new cases on Monday, 738 on Sunday and 1,057 on Saturday. The state's total number of confirmed cases is now up to 862,720.
The state reported 35 deaths on Monday, none on Sunday and 51 on Saturday. Georgia’s death toll now stands at 17,017 since March 2020.
The state finally reached 30% of residents receiving at least one vaccine dose and is closing in on five million total doses administered.
In Bulloch County, 12,774 residents have received at least one dose, according to the Department of Health, and 22,064 total shots have been given.
All residents of Bulloch County and the state of Georgia aged 16 and older are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination.
Bulloch residents are urged to contact private providers such as East Georgia Regional Medical Center and local pharmacies directly to make a vaccine appointment. Vaccines also are available at Walgreen’s, CVS and Walmart.
To schedule an appointment at the Bulloch Health Department, call (855) 473-4374. If an appointment is not available at the Altman St. office in Statesboro, they can schedule an appointment at any of the health departments in the area through the same appointment number
National cases
According to statistics from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, as of Monday afternoon, 562,946 Americans had died from coronavirus. Also, Johns Hopkins reported the U.S. has had 31,242,193 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
Hospitalizations
Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn said East Georgia Regional Medical Center staff on Monday were caring for four COVID patients, with one patient on a ventilator.
Bulloch Schools
The Bulloch County Schools system were on spring break last week. A total of 621 COVID cases have been reported since classes started on Aug. 17.
Local colleges
Georgia Southern had 17 total cases reported April 5-11 – 14 self-reported and three university-confirmed cases. GS reported 12 total cases for the week of March 29-April 4.
Of the cases reported last week, 16 were on the Statesboro campus and one was on the Armstrong Savannah campus.
East Georgia State College reported one new case on its Swainsboro campus on Saturday. It was the first new case on any of its three campuses since March 22. The college has had a total of 158 cases across its three campuses since Aug. 17.
Ogeechee Technical College has not reported any news COVID cases since the week of March 8-14. Ogeechee Tech has had a total of 70 cases across its campuses since Aug. 17.