In COVID-19 quarantine? GA health officials say to follow these rules when voting:

Ahead of Tuesday’s Presidential election, the Georgia Department of Health released additional guidelines for voters and poll workers.

According to the health department, “The protocols are in accordance with recommendations and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued... Nov. 1.”

• Voters who are sick with COVID-19 and are isolating, or voters in quarantine due to a recent COVID-19 exposure, should wear a mask and should stay at least six feet away from others.
• Voters should wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before and after voting.
• Voters who are sick with the coronavirus or are in quarantine should tell poll workers about their condition when they arrive at their polling location.
• Poll workers should minimize contact, follow protection guidelines and wear gloves and masks.
• Poll workers are encouraged to stay six feet away from others and washing their hands frequently.

COUNTY INDICATOR REPORT

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 6,600 cumulative coronavirus cases, including 136 between Oct. 17-Oct 23 and 105 between Oct. 24- Oct. 30. The county’s 14-day case rate per 100,000 people is 157, compared to Houston County at 181 and Peach County at 212. Dodge County is listed as the third highest in the state with a rate of 580.

The report listed Peach County and Wilkinson County as “emerging counties,” 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, Bibb county’s positivity rate for PCR COVID-19 tests was 8.3%: 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 remained at 1%.

In Middle Georgia, Peach, Twiggs, Houston, Bleckley, Pulaski, Washington and Dodge Counties have indications of high coronavirus transmission, according to the health department.

Middle Georgia Cases

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported 20,399 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Middle Georgia in its 3 p.m. update Monday.

Here are key takeaways:

Cases: 20,399. Bibb County has recorded the most cumulative positive cases with 6,707.

Deaths: 672. 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, 73.48% of hospital beds were in use, 82.95% of ICU beds were in use and 32.30% of adult ventilators were in use.

Cases per person: Baldwin County has the most cases per 100,000 with 5,260. Bibb is next with 4,408 cases per 100,000 people. Crawford has one of the lowest rates in the state, with 1,602 per 100,000.

• Bibb 6,707 cases - 200 deaths
  
  
• Houston 3,740 - 95
  
  
• Baldwin 2,337 - 65
  
  
• Laurens 2,038 - 89
  
  

• Peach 805 - 26

• Washington 792- 13

• Monroe 774 - 55
  
  

• Jones 657- 17

• Dodge 642 - 19

• Bleckley 515 - 27
  
  
• Wilkinson 374 - 17
  
  
• Pulaski 343 - 23
  
  
• Macon 255 - 10
  
  
• Twiggs 224 - 10
  
  
• Crawford 196 - 6
  
  

DPH reported 1,281 new cases across the state and three new deaths Monday.

This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 4:08 PM.