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White County has recorded its first COVID-19 death, according to the 9:25 a.m. update on Tuesday, May 5, on the Georgia Department of Public Health website.
The Georgia Department of Public Health is reporting that White County has had its first confirmed death attributed to COVID-19, according to the 9:25 a.m. update Tuesday, May 5, on the state Public Health website.
The deceased was a 95-year-old woman with "chronic conditions," according to DPH. No other information was provided. Federal medical privacy laws prohibit release of information to media identifying those who have been diagnosed.
With the 9:25 a.m. update there were 80 total confirmed COVID-19 cases in White County since the start of the pandemic, and 19 hospitalizations. In Georgia, there have been 29,462 total confirmed cases, 1,294 ICU admissions, 5,550 hospitalizations and 1,253 deaths.
On Monday, May 4, White County emergency management office released a new statistic that they are tracking – recoveries. This information will be issued twice a week. As of noon on Monday, the office listed 32 cases of recovery in White County of the 78 confirmed cases reported by DPH at that time. A patient is considered to have recovered 21 days after a confirmed case report is provided to the county.
"We now have the capability to track these internal patients, and we know when the 21-day is initiated as recovered," said White County Emergency Management & Public Safety Director David Murphy on Monday, adding that it was a local decision to calculate recoveries from the Georgia DPH case report.
Total confirmed cases listed in the daily Georgia DPH reports do not differentiate between how many are active infections and those who have recovered. A spokesman with the state public health's district office previously said recovery cases were not tracked by the department because many people infected with COVID-19 do not seek medical care and, therefore, any number they would have would not be accurate. Health officials have also said that some with the coronavirus might not show symptoms of COVID-19.
The Georgia Department of Public Health is now providing updates every hour on their website. Confirmed patients are listed based on their residence. The website does not add new cases in real time, and there can be a lag in when a positive test is determined by a local healthcare provider and the state's reporting of a confirmed case in the online update.
Health officials are urging the public to help stop further spread of the coronavirus:
• Stay home – the Governor has issued a shelter-in-place Executive Order that should be observed by all residents and visitors.
• Practice social distancing – keep at least 6 feet between yourself and other people.
• Wash your hands – use soap and water and scrub for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer (60% alcohol) if soap and water aren’t readily available.
• Wear a mask – The CDC now recommends the use of face masks to help slow the spread of COVID-19, especially where socials distancing is difficult to maintain (grocery stores, pharmacies, etc.), and especially in areas of significant community-based transmission. The CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.
Continuing coverage of the COVID-19 can be found on whitecountnews.net and in the latest edition of the White County News.