COVID-19: Georgia, Gwinnett and Walton County – one year later

On March 10, 2020, we were just starting to realize that there was something to this pandemic that maybe we would have to deal with here at home. There were just six cases reported in Georgia – and none of them were in Walton County. But we had a sense it was possibly coming.

Here at Your Local News, we had written a few stories about COVID-19, but not really that many. There was a story about Walton County EMA Director Carl Morrow urging calm following Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s announcement about Hard Labor Creek State Park. The governor had said that the park was being prepared as a potential isolation location for monitoring patients who may have been exposed to COVID-19, and there was an uproar about it.

“This is emergency management planning,” Morrow said at the time. “Like I’m working on shelters in case we are ever in need for something like a tornado. We don’t want to wait until the last second and that’s what the state is doing.”

But just four days later, on March 14, 2020, Georgia’s governor declared a State of Emergency – and the rest is history. A year later, we’re still living under that State of Emergency.

When the State of Emergency was declared, we had figured we may be doing more than a few stories so we set up a special section of Your Local News dedicated solely to COVID-19 stories. That section now carries more than 720 stories in that section alone.

Georgia went on to add many more than those six positive cases and before long Walton and Gwinnett began a case count of their own. Today, Georgia is reporting 830,114 positive cases and 15,647 deaths from COVID-19 and at 9,762 cases, Walton County is poised to go over 10,000 by next week and has reported 212 deaths. Gwinnett County today has 94,043 positive cases of COVID-19 reported and 930 deaths.

But, on the positive side, vaccines are now available and residents are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Georgia has managed to deal with the pandemic better than many the other states. After the initial panic and shutdown, schools have been back in on campus learning all year, albeit somewhat challenging at times. But they have persevered. Restaurants, bars, gyms are back open and many other business have returned to a regular work schedule. When it comes to unemployment, Georgia also is well placed. After jumping to an unemployment rate of 12.1 % in April 2020, it finished up the year back down to 5.6 %, just one point above the 4.6 % that it was on Jan. 1, 2020. This is arguably a better position in December 2020 than California was at 9.0 % or New York at 8.2 %.

The following is a snapshot of the statistics reported by the Georgia Department of Public Health at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. Gwinnett County is reporting one more death, Walton County is reporting no more deaths and Georgia is reporting 10 more deaths in the past 24 hours.

Walton County

Total Cases – 9,762 – That is 21 more cases reported in the last 24 hours. 
Cases per 100,000 – 10,188 cumulative (706 per 100,000 in past 2 weeks)
Total deaths – 212 – that’s 0 more deaths reported in the past 24 hours (deaths per 100,000 is 221.3)
Testing 9.9 % positive in the past 2 weeks, overall 15.1 % (9.9 % of those tested came back positive over the past 2 weeks) 

Gwinnett County

Total Cases – 94,043 that is 205 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. 
Cases per 100,000 – 9,684 cumulative (338 per 100,000 in past 2 weeks)
Total deaths – 930 – That’s 1 more death reported in the past 24 hours (95.8 deaths per 100,000 reported)
Testing – 6.6 % positive in the past 2 weeks, overall 12.9 % (6.6 % of those tested came back positive over the past 2 weeks)

Georgia

Confirmed cases – 830,114 – that is 1,064 more cases reported in the past 24 hours. An additional 819 Antigen positive cases also were reported in the past 24 hours for a total of 1,883.
ICU admissions – 9,284 – 15 more admissions reported in the past 24 hours. Hospitalizations – 56,971– That’s 135 more hospitalizations reported in the past 24 hours.
Total deaths – 15,647– That is 10 more deaths reported in the past 24 hours.

A total of 7,391,595 PCR/Molecular tests and 1,505,273 Antigen tests have been performed and 483,316 antibody tests. That is 18,578 PCR/Molecular test results reported in the last 24 hours. Of the these tests performed collectively, 805,440 (10.9 %) PCR Molecular, 170,662 (11.3 %) Antigen test have come back positive and 78,642 (16.3%) antibody tests have come back positive. Today 1,092 (6.0 %) PCR/Molecular tests came back positive.

For more specific information click or tap on this link to the daily reports from the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Walton County Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities

(These figures are updated as of March 8, 2021. 

Great Oaks, Monroe – 30 confirmed staff members and 65 residents. That’s no more resident and no more staff members reported positive in the past 24 hours. There have been 13 deaths, that’s no more reported in the past 24 hours.

The Gardens of Social Circle – 6 confirmed resident cases, 12 staff cases and 1 resident death. No additional case and no additional resident cases or deaths reported in the past 24 hours.

Hollander Senior Living, Monroe – Six residents, 3 confirmed staff case, two deaths – That’s no more staff members, two more residents reporting positive and no more deaths reported in the past 24 hours.

Magnolia Senior Living – Loganville – (Gwinnett County) has 5 staff members who have tested positive and 3 residents – That is no more resident reported and no additional staff case reported in the past 24 hours.

Park Place, Monroe – 120 resident cases, 66 confirmed staff cases, 35 deaths – That’s no more staff members, no more residents cases and no more deaths reported in the past 24 hours.

The Retreat at Loganville Pearl Memory Care – 33 confirmed resident cases, five deaths – 9 staff members – That’s no more staff members, no more residents and no more deaths in the past 24 hours.

The Retreat at Loganville: 39 confirmed resident cases – 25 staff cases and 6 deaths. That is no more residents, no more staff cases or resident deaths in the past 24 hours.

Social Circle Nursing and Rehab in Social Circle is reporting that 23 residents and 13 staff members tested positive for COVID-19 and two resident death were reported. No more cases reported or deaths reported in the past 24 hours.