Bibb, five other Middle Georgia counties report increasing COVID-19 case rates

The Georgia Department of Public Health released updated COVID-19 case, laboratory testing and emergency department visitation data Monday, noting which counties have reported high transmission rates or are susceptible to significant spread.

According to the County Indicator Report, Bibb County has reported more than 6,400 cumulative coronavirus cases, including 137 between Oct. 3-Oct 9 and 164 between Oct. 10-Oct. 16. The county’s 14-day case rate per 100,000 people is 197, compared to Houston County at 137 and Peach County at 190. Bibb County is up from 160 in last week’s report for the 14-day case rate per 100,000 people.

The report listed Bibb County as an “emerging county,” which means the county has reported a greater than 5% increase in COVID-19 cases from the previous seven-day reporting period.

Over the past two weeks, the county’s positivity rate for PCR COVID-19 tests was 8.6%: having a rate below 10% indicates a sufficient number of people are being tested. Last week, the percentage of emergency department visits in Bibb County ERs related to COVID-19 went up to 2% which is the same as the week before.

In Middle Georgia, Twiggs County and Bleckley County have indications of high coronavirus transmission, according to the health department. Twiggs has the eight-worst test positivity rate over the last 14 days (Oct. 3-Oct. 16) in the state at 16%.

Middle Georgia Cases

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported 19,265 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Middle Georgia in its 3 p.m. update Tuesday.

Here are key takeaways:

Cases: 19,334. Bibb County has recorded the most cumulative positive cases with 6,483.

Deaths: 635. It’s important to note that these numbers indicate when deaths are reported to the Georgia Department of Public Health. It does not reflect when these deaths occurred.

Hospitalizations: In Region F, which includes Bibb County and much of Middle Georgia, 75.68% of hospital beds were in use, 80.63% of ICU beds were in use and 25.00% of adult ventilators were in use.

Cases per person: Baldwin County has the most cases per 100,000 with 5,080. Bibb is next with 4,260 cases per 100,000 people. Crawford has one of the lowest rates in the state, with 1,545 per 100,000.

County Indicator Report: Twiggs County and Bleckley County are currently listed as a high transmission county. Bibb, Houston, Dodge, Peach, Pulaski and Bleckley counties are listed as an emerging county. An emerging county has seen a greater than 5% increase in COVID cases from the previous seven day period. A high transmission county has a 14-day cases rate of more than 100 cases for 100,000 county residents and an average of more than 10% in positive tests results during that 14 day period. No other counties in Middle Georgia meet these criteria according to the report.

The following is a breakdown of cumulative cases and deaths for counties in Middle Georgia.

• Bibb 6,483 cases - 188 deaths
  
  
• Houston 3,468 - 91
  
  
• Baldwin 2,257 - 63
  
  
• Laurens 1,917 - 86
  
  
• Monroe 747 - 54
  
  

• Peach 740 - 24

• Washington 731 - 13

• Jones 630 - 15
  
  

• Dodge 530 - 14

• Bleckley 501 - 21
  
  
• Wilkinson 359 - 17
  
  
• Pulaski 327 - 23
  
  
• Macon 244 - 11
  
  
• Twiggs 211 - 9
  
  
• Crawford 189 - 6
  
  

DPH reported 1,174 new cases across the state and 18 new deaths Tuesday..

This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 5:38 PM.