Georgia and South Carolina are having lower cases and fewer deaths, including just two counties in the Augusta and Aiken area that have had 10 or more cases and a single death in the region and in South Carolina.
Georgia added 860 new cases, reaching 836,344, with 47 new deaths in 15,918, the Department of Public Health reported.
Columbia County saw 11 new cases for 10,665 in total and all other Georgia counties in the area saw nine or less: nine in Richmond for 18,949, three in Burke for 1,701, one in McDuffie for 1,597, one in Jenkins for 709, one in Wilkes for 659, two in Lincoln for 494 and one in Warren for 365. All other counties remained unchanged: Jefferson at 1,547, Screven at 791, Glascock at 140 and Taliaferro at 98.
Richmond County suffered a new death to 371, increasing the area’s casualty to 969.
Georgia Public Health obtained the results of 18,968 tests, of which 4.53% were positive, less than half the overall positive rate of 10.46%, which fell slightly, according to an analysis by the Augusta Chronicle. The seven-day average for new cases continued to drop to 1,038.14, the lowest level the state has recorded since June 19, the analysis revealed.
Georgia administered 2,740,601 of the 3,500,135 doses it received until Monday, or 78.3%. The state was receiving an average of 40,523 shots a day until Monday, the Chronicle’s analysis found.
The University Hospital was back to 18 inpatients with COVID-19, one more than last week, after discharging four, but admitting five over the weekend, spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester said. The university has admitted 2,303 patients since the start of the pandemic, with 17 last week, compared with 27 the previous week.
The AU Health System has dropped one since last week with 11 patients in the hospital and had five new positive cases, reaching 25,723 since the start of the pandemic, said spokeswoman Christen Engel.
Doctors Hospital of Augusta had 16 patients admitted, three fewer than on Sunday, with three more cases out of a total of 763, said spokesman Kaden Jacobs.
Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta had eight more cases for a total of 1,778, with 28 active cases among 25 veterans and three others, and remained with 85 deaths. Augusta VA vaccinated 12,544 veterans, including 7,603 who received both doses.
South Carolina added 405 new cases, the lowest number since September 10, reaching 455,088 and had a new death for 7,850, the Department of Health and Environmental Control said.
Aiken County saw 10 more cases for 12,345 and Edgefield County had three more cases for 2,444. None of the counties had a new death and remained at 171 and 27 respectively.
The state reported the result of 12,379 tests, of which 3.4% were positive and the overall positive rate was 7.15%. The seven-day average for new cases dropped slightly from 586 to 580, the Chronicle’s analysis found.