COVID cases still climbing

The number of COVID-19 cases in White County have continued to climb over the past week, continuing a trend that began last month.

The county’s seven-day moving average of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased since hitting a low point a few weeks ago.

The Georgia Department of Public Health’s Aug. 10 status report showed the county seven-day moving average of confirmed COVID-19 cases at 14.6 daily cases at that time, up from 9.4 on Aug. 3. Other recent averages were 3.6 on July 27 and 1.9 on July 20.

For the month, there had been 124 confirmed cases reported through Aug. 10. There were 89 confirmed cases reported during July and 16 in June. DPH lists 3,243 total confirmed cases during the pandemic and 75 local deaths attributed to COVID-19.

An Aug. 10 report from the Georgia Department of Public Health showed showed 9,869 residents had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine – about 33% of the population, with 8,954, residents considered fully vaccinated – about 30% of the population, percentage that lags behind most Georgia counties.

The Georgia Department of Public Health is encouraging residents to get vaccinated in hopes of stopping the spread of the coronavirus and the Delta variant. To help with this, DPH is hosting the Say “YES” Summer events, which will offer walk-up vaccinations that are free, and do not require appointments, insurance or identification. The events will start Aug. 14 in Savannah, Athens, and Atlanta before expanding to other areas.

In regards to quarantining, DPH has stated that full vaccinated individuals do not need to quarantine, but should wear a mask, social distance, avoid crowds, and frequently wash hands. If a person is exposed and is not vaccinated, after quarantining at home, they can get tested at Day 5, and if negative, they can be released from quarantine at Day 7. If the person does not get tested, they need to quarantine for at least 10 days and monitor for symptoms after that. DPH said the safest option is to quarantine for the full 14 days.

On Aug. 6, Gov. Brian Kemp defended his decision not to impose mask-wearing or vaccination mandates on Georgians to stem the latest surge in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

“I don’t believe we need to have a dictatorship in government telling what local school systems need to do, what private businesses need to do, what nonprofits need to do, or what individuals should do,” Kemp said during an appearance at Ball Ground Elementary School in Cherokee County to mark the start of a new school year. “Individuals need to make the best decision they can.”

Kemp said Georgians seem to be getting the message about the need to be vaccinated against COVID-19. He said vaccinations in Georgia have risen 66% since cases of the virus began to increase in recent weeks with the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

“People who haven’t been vaccinated are realizing the delta variant spreads more rapidly, and they’re looking into getting vaccinated,” he said.
On Friday, Kemp urged the Biden administration to move forward with formal Food and Drug Administration approval of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“The vaccine is still under emergency authorization,” the governor said. “A lot of people won’t take the vaccine because of that.”

Dave Williams with Capitol Beat contributed to this story.