State: 14th Floyd resident dies from COVID-19 in August
♦ The Armuchee Middle football team, classes at Glenwood and Elm Street are quarantined.
The state has reported the deaths of 14 Floyd County residents from a COVID-19 infection in just the month of August.
A surge in cases in late June and July has translated to an increase in deaths in August in Northwest Georgia and throughout the entire state.
Floyd County has a total of 30 fatalities from COVID-19 reported by the Department of Public Health — with nearly half of those reported this month.
It also has been a deadly month in Northwest Georgia. Chattooga County has reported three deaths, Polk seven, Bartow 12, Gordon four, Walker eight, and Whitfield 24.
Overall, the state has reported 5,311 deaths in Georgia due to COVID- 19. Currently the statewide fatality rate is just above 2%.
Statewide in August, the seven day average for deaths has remained above 60 a day. That’s nearly double the averages from previous months, with the exception of June and July which had even lower numbers.
Within a two week period there have been 434 new infections and a two week average case positivity rate of 9.5%, just under the 10% indicator of a potential hotspot.
Some surrounding counties have shown increased positivity rates in the past two weeks, including Chattooga at 20.9% and Polk at 15.4%. Others appear to fall in the 5% to 9% positivity range.
According to information provided by the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency, there are 29 COVID-19 positive patients at Floyd Medical Center as well as 18 at Redmond Regional Medical Center. There are eight other patients suspected of having the disease but awaiting test results.
Those number continue to decline after a late July to early August spike in patient numbers.
Elm Street, Glenwood Primary report quarantines
In the second full week of classes, the Rome and Floyd County school systems are continuing to get hammered by the novel coronavirus.
Floyd County Schools reported that the Armuchee Middle School football team and a kindergarten class at Glenwood Primary have been quarantined after possible COVID-19 exposure.
One COVID-19 case at Elm Street Elementary in Rome City Schools has quarantined 21 other students as well as three staff members. At this point there are 348 students and 25 staff members in quarantine after a COVID-19 exposure.
The city school system is still in decent shape, said Superintendent Lou Byars. Their quarantining process is different for elementary and middle- to high-school students.
At the elementary school level, he said, if there’s an exposure they quarantine the entire class as well as the teacher. That class then moves to a virtual learning platform with the same teacher.
At the middle and high school levels, administrators attempt to determine students and staff members who fell within the 6-foot, 15-minute exposure window. If a student or staff member had that level of exposure, they are quarantined.
There were 88 students and seven staff members quarantined at Rome High School as of Wednesday. There also are 50 students and two staff members quarantined at Rome Middle School.