White County has continued to see an increase in coronavirus cases during the final month of the year.
There were 105 confirmed cases from Dec. 1-8, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health on Dec. 8. The county has had 1,426 total confirmed cases as of that report.
In November, White County had 288 confirmed cases. Only September has had more, with 363 cases. Other higher months include 117 in October, 217 in August and 144 in July.
The county’s seven-day moving average was at its lowest point in months Oct. 27 at 1.3 new confirmed cases per day, but the moving average has risen most days since then to reach a seven-day average of 15 as of the Dec. 8 DPH update. That’s an increase from the 11.1 average on Dec. 1.
DPH listed 78 new cases reported for the county from Nov. 24 to Dec. 1. Previous weekly case counts over November were 121 from Nov. 17-24 and 52 from Nov. 10-17.
Of the 1,399 confirmed cases list in the Dec. 6 DPH status report, White County Emergency Management Agency considered 827 as recovered. The agency’s weekly update considers a case to be a recovery 21 days after the case report is provided to the county.
As of Dec. 8, DPH reported that there had been 28 deaths attributed to the coronavirus in White County. The ages of the deceased listed include men ages 26, 36, 60, 65, 68, 74, 79, 81, 82, 83, 83, 84, 85, 88, and over 90, and women ages 43, 54, 56, 71, 76, 77, 82, 87, 88 and four over 90. All but five are listed as having chronic health conditions.
The White County School System weekly COVID-19 status report on Dec. 9 said there were currently seven students who had reported positive for COVID-19 and 75 students quarantined for possible exposure at that time. At that time, there were six reports of staff members with a positive COVID-19 test, and three staff members quarantined for possible exposure.
The reported numbers reflect students and staff who are out on that particular day - in this case, Dec. 9 - because of either a positive test or exposure to somebody with COVID-19 and are not cumulative.