COVID-19 UPSON UPDATE

While August saw record numbers of cases and hospitalizations, September took its toll in COVID deaths. Georgia’s death toll was the highest it’s been since the beginning of the pandemic and middle Georgia counties followed suit. Upson, combined with its surrounding counties, logged a total of 78 deaths in September, jumping from the previous record of 58 set in January. Deaths had just been at an all-time low in June for the state of Georgia, and in July for the middle Georgia counties.

Upson County alone tallied 12 deaths in September, the highest since 14 in January. The most deaths for Upson occurred in April 2020, when 18 people died of COVID following outbreaks in two local nursing homes.

Upson’s average 2-week test positivity hit a new high of 23% in September, while cases and hospitalizations showed a moderate decline. From the record high of 473 confirmed cases in August, Upson’s cases were down to 324 in September. Hospitalizations declined from the record high of 28 in August down to 15 in September. Upson’s vaccination rate is up from 29% in August to 34% in September. 34% is the highest rate among the area counties, but still short of the state’s 45%.

 

UPSON COUNTY	New Cases	New Deaths	New Hospitaliz.	Avg 2-wk Test Pos	% Total Pop. Fully Vax
Mar 2020	5	0
Apr 2020	211	18 (hi)
May 2020	65	16
June 2020	74	9	1 (lo)
July 2020	116	2	9
Aug 2020	190	10	14
Sept 2020	138	7	14
Oct 2020	45	9	17	5.4%
Nov 2020	98	0 (lo)	7	8.4%
Dec 2020	246	1	12	13.7%
Jan 2021	405	14	24	21%
Feb 2021	112	10	22	10.8%
Mar 2021	60	7	7	6.7%
Apr 2021	45	4	7	5.3%	19%
May 2021	26	4	2	3.8%	24%
June 2021	6 (lo)	1	6	1.8% (lo)	26%
July 2021	37	0 (lo)	6	2.2%	28%
Aug 2021	473 (hi)	1	28 (hi)	19.1%	29%
Sept 2021	324	12	15	23.3%(hi)	34%
Sources: GA Dept of Public Health Daily Reports, and CDC Data Tracker

8-County Area	New Cases	New Deaths
Jan 2021	2,063	58
Feb 2021	726	53
Mar 2021	296	44
Apr 2021	243	16
May 2021	171	11
June 2021	77 (lo)	9
July 2021	310	8 (lo)
Aug 2021	2,409 (hi)	21
Sept 2021	1,654	78 (hi)
8-County Area = Upson, Pike, Lamar, Monroe, Crawford, Taylor, Talbot, and Meriwether
Source: Daily Reports from GA Dept of Public Health