AUGUSTA, Ga. – Georgia and South Carolina both saw a little over 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday but had lower death rates, including three in the Augusta area.
Georgia added 1,185 new cases for 833,665 with 49 new deaths for 15,831, the Department of Public Health reported.
Richmond County had 10 new cases for 18,922 total and was the only county to see a double-digit increase. Other area counties saw seven new cases or fewer: seven in Columbia for 10,648, one in Burke for 1,695, four in McDuffie for 1,594, two in Screven for 791, one in Jenkins for 706, and one in Warren for 364. Taliaferro County was lowered one to 97 and all other counties were unchanged: Jefferson at 1,546, Wilkes at 658, Lincoln at 492, and Glascock at 139.
Screven County suffered a new death for 18, Warren County lost a patient for 12 and Taliaferro County had its third death, raising the area’s total to 965.
Georgia Public Health got the results of 22,499 tests, of which 5.27% were positive, almost half the overall positive rate of 10.5%, which fell slightly, according to an analysis by the Augusta Chronicle. The seven-day average for new cases continued to fall to 1,078.29, the lowest it has been since June 21, the analysis found.
Georgia had administered 2,615,845 of the 3,336,655 doses it had received as of Friday, or 78.4%. The state was averaging 40,470 shots a day through Friday, Chronicle analysis found.
University Hospital was down to 17 COVID-19 inpatients on Friday, one less than Thursday, after discharging a patient and admitting no new patients, spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester said.
AU Health System was back up to 12 patients in the hospital on Friday, four more than Thursday, and added 24 new positive tests for 25,718 since the pandemic began, spokeswoman Christen Engel said.
Doctors Hospital of Augusta remained at 19 patients in the hospital with two new cases for 759 total, spokesman Kaden Jacobs said.
Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta added two more cases for 1,770 total, with 32 active cases among 29 veterans and three others, and remained at 85 deaths, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Augusta VA has vaccinated 12,544 veterans, including 7,803 who have received both doses.
South Carolina added 1,089 new cases, more than the previous two days combined, to reach 453,093 with 11 new deaths for 7,814, the Department of Health and Environmental Control reported.
Aiken County had 10 more for 12,318 and Edgefield County saw six more for 2,434. Neither county had a new death and remained at 171 and 27 respectively.
The state got the results of 31,738 tests, of which 3.43% were positive, less than half the overall rate of 7.22%, which fell slightly, Chronicle analysis found. The seven-day average for new cases went up, however, from 533 to 563, according to the analysis.
