Here’s the Covid-19 pandemic report from the Georgia Department of Public Health for 1 p.m., May 18.
SUMMARY: A day of increased testing for the coronavirus produced an additional 439 newly confirmed cases of Covid-19. Meantime, cash-strapped hospitals reported an additional 126 admissions for treatment of the respiratory illness. And the toll of deaths continued to grow by 36 newly confirmed virus-caused deaths, for a state total of 1,642, a death rate of 4.3%. For comparison, April 16 was the day of the highest death toll: 53.
Another startling state statistic: 48.6% (798) of all Covid-19 fatalities in Georgia have occurred among nursing home and long-term care facility residents.
One other metric — newly added to the daily reporting — is beginning to tell another tale. Across the state, even with hundreds of new cases being confirmed by tests each day, the number of Covid-19 patients admitted to intensive care units across the state was a total of 8, 3 the day before. The takeaway: Measurably fewer extremely ill patients are requiring extraordinary medical interventions at the state’s hundreds of hospitals.
And in Fayette County, the numbers of new cases being reported daily are down to single digits, despite the widespread availability of testing even without symptoms.
Is the pandemic winding down, at least in Fayette? Realistically, we can’t know for certain, at least until no new cases are being reported for multiple days or even weeks. Can the slowdown be attributed to business shutdowns, shelter in place requirements, social distancing and better hygiene? Or could it be the warmer weather being less hospitable to the propagation of a novel coronavirus? Or all of the above? Opinions vary. Scientific studies on that may give us some reliable answers later.
NOTE: DPH today said it included some erroneous case numbers in the May 17 report. “Alert — May 17, there was an electronic processing error which inadvertently included 231 serologic test results in the number of positive COVID19 cases. This error was corrected, but caused a decrease in positive cases between reporting periods on our dashboard. We are working diligently to provide the most accurate information, and we apologize for any confusion.”
GA total cases — 38,081 (+439); GA deaths — 1,642 (+36); death rate — 4.3%
ICU admissions — 1,565 (+8); Hospitalizations — 6,916 (+126);
Total tests — 364,289 (+13,114)
Fayette cases — 206 (1 fewer case than previous day’s total of 207; no explanation); Fayette deaths — 11 (no deaths since May 8)
Fayette hospitalizations — 35 (no additional admissions since May 6)
Fayette death rate per 100K — 9.4
The graphs below represents a Fayette County report of cases over time in the first graph, and Fayette deaths over time just below that.
Graphs below show statewide cases over time and Covid-19 deaths over time. According to DPH, the Covid-19 cases over time “is meant to aid understanding whether the outbreak is growing, leveling off, or declining and can help to guide the Covid-19 response.”
Below is a DPH chart of Covid-19-related deaths that have occurred in Fayette County since the start of the pandemic. The chart now lists a total of 11 deaths, the result of the DPH as of May 14 reclassifying the death of an 89-year-old male with pre-existing medical conditions as not related to Covid-19. That victim was removed from the list of Covid-19 deaths May 15. The chart lists from left to right the age of the victim, the sex, the county, and yes or no or unknown as to whether the victim had an underlying medical condition:
Total test-confirmed cases statewide: 38,082 which is 439 more cases than the previous day’s total of 37,642, an increase of 1.1%. All of Georgia’s 159 counties are now reporting coronavirus cases. For perspective, more testing results in more cases being reported, which does not necessarily indicate whether a pandemic is increasing or decreasing in intensity.
Statewide deaths: 1,642, an increase of 36 fatalities over the previous day’s total of 1,606.
State Covid-19 death rate: 4.3% of all confirmed cases reported, slightly over 4 deaths for every 100 test-confirmed cases.
Fayette County: Confirmed infections — 206 cases (1 less case than the 207 reported on the previous day; no explanation) with 11 deaths, unchanged from the previous day. Fayette’s confirmed case rate: 175.3 cases per 100,000 persons. Fayette death rate per 100,000 population: 9.4. Hospitalizations: 35, same as the previous day.
Coweta County: Confirmed infections — 284 (same as previous day’s 284) with 4 deaths. Coweta’s confirmed case rate: 186.8 cases per 100,000 persons. Coweta death rate per 100,000 population: 2.6. Hospitalizations: 48.
Hospitalized: 6,916 cumulative total of all Covid-19 hospitalizations statewide from the beginning of the pandemic to today, which is 18.1% of the total cumulative confirmed cases to date, compared to 6,790 cumulative total one day earlier, an increase of 126 newly hospitalized patients (increase of 1.8% over the previous day) across the state of Georgia. The data do not indicate how many patients that were admitted on previous days are actually still being treated in hospitals today.
Intensive care unit admissions: 1,565, which is 8 more new ICU patients than the previous day’s report of 1,557 across all reporting hospitals in Georgia.
Total coronavirus tests: 364,289 by private and state labs, which represents 13,114 (3.7%) more tests than the 351,175 tests in the previous report.
Total positive tests: 38,081 confirmations so far with all testing from both commercial and state labs, a positive confirmation rate of 10.4% of the total tests administered. The positive confirmation rate is now under 1 out of 9, meaning that more than 8 out of every 9 tests shows no presence of coronavirus.
Covid-19 in neighboring counties
Fulton — 3,761, 170 deaths; Clayton — 1,007 cases, 38 deaths; Henry — 624, 18 deaths; Coweta — 284 cases, 4 deaths; Spalding — 239 cases, 15 deaths; Fayette — 206 cases, 11 deaths.
Top 5 counties with most deaths: Fulton, 170; Dougherty, 135; Cobb, 133; Gwinnett, 104; DeKalb, 85.
Here’s what the raw numbers of new hospital patients across the state of Georgia and the corresponding rates of hospitalization increase day over day look like:
• March 26 — 79 new patients, 20% increase over previous 24-hour period
• March 27 — 93 new patients, 19.9% increase over previous 24-hour period
• March 28 — 51 new patients, 9% increase over previous 24-hour period
• March 29 — 49 new patients, 7.9% increase over previous 24-hour period
• March 30 — 41 new patients, 6.1% increase over previous 24-hour period
• March 31 — 111 new patients, 15.7% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 1 — 134 new patients, 16.3% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 2 — 104 new patients, 10.9% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 3 — 102 new patients, 9.6% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 4 — 81 new patients, 6.9% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 5 — 44 new patients, 3.5% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 6 — 48 new patients, 3.8% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 7 — 442 new patients, 33.1% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 8 — 206 new patients, 11.6% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 9 — 179 new patients, 9% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 10 — 192 new patients, 8.8% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 11 — 128 new patients, 5.4% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 12 — 26 new patients, 1% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 13 — 81 new patients, 3.29% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 14 — 183 new patients, 7% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 15 — 153 new patients, 5.5% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 16 — 118 new patients, 4% increase over previous day’s report
• April 17 — 284 new patients, 9.3% increase over previous day’s report
• April 18 — 96 new patients, 2.8% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 19 — 44 new patients, 1.2% increase over previous 24-hour period.
• April 20 — 86 new patients, 2.4% increase over previous 24-hour period.
• April 21 — 229 new patients, 6.4% increase over previous 24-hour period.
• April 22 — 180 new patients, 4.7% increase over previous 24-hour period
• April 23 — 110 new patients, 2.7% increase over previous 24-hour period.
• April 24 — 152 new patients, 3.7% increase over previous 24-hour period.
• April 25 — 105 new patients, 2.4% increase over previous 24-hour period.
• April 26 — 33 new patients, 0.01% (one-tenth of 1 percent) increase over previous 24-hour period.
• April 27 — 74 new patients, 1.6% increase over previous 24-hour period.
• April 28 — 345 new patients, 7.7% increase over previous 24-hour period.
• April 29 — 170 new patients, 3.5% increase over previous 24-hour period.
• April 30 — 162 new patients, 3.2% increase over the previous 24-hour period.
• May 1 — 108 new patients, 2.1% increase over the previous 24-hour period.
• May 2 — 122 new patients, 2.3% increase over the previous 24-hour period.
• May 3 — 53 new patients, 0.9% increase over the previous 24-hour period.
• May 4 — 36 newly hospitalized patients, increase of 0.6% over the previous day.
• May 5 — 145 newly hospitalized patients, increase of 2.6% over the previous day.
• May 6 — 135 newly hospitalized patients, increase of 2.4% over the previous day.
• May 7 — 86 newly hospitalized patients, increase of 1.5% over the previous day.
• May 8 — 91 newly hospitalized patients, increase of 1.5% over the previous day.
• May 9 — 95 newly hospitalized patients, increase of 1.6% over the previous day.
• May 10 — 13 newly hospitalized patients, increase of under 1% over the previous day.
• May 11 — 21 newly hospitalized patients, increase of less than 1% over the previous day.
• May 12 — 115 newly hospitalized patients, increase of 1.9% over the previous day.
• May 13 — 98 newly hospitalized patients, increase of 1.5% over the previous day.
• May 14 — 117 newly hospitalized patients, increase of 1.8% over the previous day.
• May 15 — 93 newly hospitalized patients, increase of 1.4% over the previous day.
• May 16 — 297 newly hospitalized patients; new ICU admissions are 20, statewide.
• May 17 — 55 newly hospitalized patients; new ICU admissions are 3, statewide.
• May 18 — 126 newly hospitalized patients; new ICU admissions are 8, statewide.
Below is the daily progression of cumulative reported Covid-19 cases and fatalities in Fayette County:
March 9 — 1 case, no deaths
March 13 — 5 cumulative cases, no deaths
March 17 — 5 cumulative cases, no deaths
March 19 — 9 cumulative cases, no deaths
March 20 — cumulative 9 cases, 1 death (male, 83, other medical conditions)
March 22 — 9 cumulative cases, 1 death
March 23 — 10 cumulative cases, 1 death
March 24 — 12 cumulative cases, 1 death.
March 25 — 12 cumulative cases, 1 death
March 26 — 14 cumulative cases, 2 deaths (no new details provided)
March 27 — 19 cumulative cases, 2 deaths
March 28 — 25 cumulative cases, 2 deaths
March 29 — 26 cumulative cases, 3 deaths (male, 83; male, 79; female, 77; all with underlying medical conditions)
March 30 — 32 cumulative cases, 3 deaths
March 31 — 44 cumulative cases, 4 deaths (female, 51, NO underlying medical condition)
April 1 — 48 cumulative cases, 4 deaths
April 2 — 52 cumulative cases, 4 deaths
April 3 — 58 cumulative cases, 4 deaths
April 4 — 62 cumulative cases, 4 deaths
April 5 — 67 cumulative cases, 4 deaths
April 6 — 74 cumulative cases, 4 deaths
April 7 — 79 cumulative cases, 4 deaths
April 8 — 85 cumulative cases, 4 deaths
April 9 — 89 cumulative cases, 3 deaths (one fewer than reported earlier, no explanation given by DPH, though likely a reclassification of cause of death of one person)
April 10 — 92 cumulative cases, 4 deaths (subtraction yesterday and addition today unexplained by DPH)
April 11 — 94 cumulative cases (#26 in state), 4 deaths
April 12 — 99 cumulative cases (#26 in state), 4 deaths
April 13 —105 cumulative cases (#26 in state), 5 deaths
April 14 — 112 cumulative cases, (#27 in state), 5 deaths
April 15 — 120 cumulative cases (#26 in state), 5 deaths
April 16 — 123 cumulative cases (#26 in state), 5 deaths
April 17 — 133 cumulative cases (#27 in state), 5 deaths
April 18 — 135 cumulative cases (#27 in state) with 5 deaths
April 19 — 139 cumulative cases (#27 in state) with 5 deaths
April 20— 140 cumulative cases (#27 in state) with 5 deaths
April 21 — 144 cumulative cases (#28 in state) with 8 deaths
April 22 — 145 cumulative cases (#28 in state) with 8 deaths
April 23 — 152 cumulative cases (#29 in state) with 8 deaths.
April 24 — 156 cumulative cases (#29 in state) with 8 deaths.
April 25 — 158 cumulative cases (#29 in state) with 8 deaths
April 26 — 161 cumulative cases (#31 in state) with 8 deaths
April 27 — 165 cumulative cases (#30 in state) with 8 deaths.
April 28 — 170 cumulative cases with 9 deaths; 29 hospitalizations.
April 29 — 171 cumulative cases with 9 deaths; 32 hospitalizations.
April 30 — 180 cumulative cases with 10 deaths; 33 hospitalizations.
May 1 — 177 (DPH revised number) cumulative cases with 10 deaths, 33 hospitalizations
May 2 — 180 cumulative cases with 10 deaths, 35 hospitalizations
May 3 — 182 cumulative cases with 10 deaths, 35 hospitalizations
May 4 — 188 cumulative cases with 10 deaths, 35 hospitalizations
May 5 — 185 cumulative cases (unexplained decline) with 10 deaths, 35 hospitalizations
May 6 — 194 cumulative cases with 10 deaths, 36 hospitalizations
May 7 — 188 cumulative cases (unexplained decline) with 11 deaths, 36 hospitalizations.
May 8 — 190 cumulative cases with 12 deaths, 36 hospitalizations.
May 9 — 194 cumulative cases with 12 deaths, 36 hospitalizations.
May 10 — 199 cumulative cases with 12 deaths, 36 hospitalizations.
May 11 — 200 cumulative cases with 12 deaths, 36 hospitalizations.
May 12 — 201 cumulative cases with 12 deaths, 36 hospitalizations.
May 13 — 202 cumulative cases with 12 deaths, 36 hospitalizations.
May 14 — 201 cumulative cases with 11 deaths, 35 hospitalizations (unexplained subtraction of 1 case, 1 death and 1 hospitalization from county totals).
May 15 — 205 cumulative cases with 11 deaths, 35 hospitalizations.
May 16 — 206 cumulative cases with 11 deaths, 35 hospitalizations.
May 17 — 207 cumulative cases with 11 deaths, 35 hospitalizations.
May 18 — 206 cumulative cases with 11 deaths, 35 hospitalizations.
Recent article headlines on the statewide pandemic daily reports signaled some optimism. However, not so much with today’s headline up above. When looking at statewide new hospitalizations for last week, specifically the report for the 16th it reflected 297 new admissions. This was the third (3rd) highest daily total since the end of March.
Putting this into a little more perspective by looking at weekly totals rather than just daily totals (or statistical blips); last week’s new hospitalizations increased 17.6% over the prior week. This week so far (5/17-18) it’s also unusually high as well. No doubt that the frontline healthcare workers within the hospital systems, who work ever so tirelessly, are seeing it for themselves at work each day.