Local COVID-19 cases continue to climb

CORRECTION
In the July 29, 2020 article about the latest COVID-19 cases in Grady County, we erroneously reported that Pinewood Nursing Center in Whigham has three residents who have recovered from COVID-19. That is incorrect. None of Pinewood’s residents have ever tested positive for COVID-19, and therefore, none could have recovered. We regret the error. Facility director Lori Hughes, L.N.H.A., says, in fact, the Georgia Department of Community Health notified them last week that a COVID-19 Focused Survey of the nursing center by Georgia Survey Agency determined that Pinewood was in compliance with “proper infection prevention and control practices to prevent the development and transmission of COVID-19.” Hughes says, “I am so proud of the team we are building here at Pinewood.”

For the second week in a row, the number of positive COVID-19 cases in Grady County increased by 52, bringing the total number of local people contracting the disease to 366 since the pandemic began. The number of Grady County residents with the virus has risen steadily in the last month, beginning with 192 cases reported on June 30.

There are nine more locals who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the last seven days, according to information from the Georgia Department of Public Health. That makes for a total of 59 Grady County residents who have required hospitalization during the pandemic.

Grady General Hospital was treating six COVID-positive patients as of Tuesday, according to information from Ashley Griffin, spokeswoman for Archbold Medical Centers. Griffin also stated that 36 patients were being treated at Archbold Memorial Hospital in Thomasville, two were at Mitchell County Hospital and one was at Brooks County Hospital.

The two facilities in Grady County that cater mainly to older citizens are also affected with positive cases.

At Cairo’s Magnolia Place Senior Living, seven residents and six staff members have now tested positive for COVID-19, according to information from the state.

Brande Strickland, R.N., executive director of Magnolia Place, said Tuesday, “We monitor resident temperatures every few hours, and we quickly isolated the memory care unit where the fevers first appeared and then began our emergency protocols for suspected COVID-19 cases. As of today, all residents are recovering off-site and we have deep-cleaned and sanitized the entire memory care unit to get ready for residents to return from the 10-day quarantine, per C.D.C. guidelines.”

In Whigham, Pinewood Nursing Center has three residents who have recovered from COVID, and three staff who are currently positive, according to state information.

The number of positive COVID-19 cases continues to increase in counties surrounding Grady, especially in Florida where Leon County saw 677 more cases and three more deaths in the last week, while Gadsden County had 312 more positive cases and one additional death in the last seven days. Each county had 22 residents hospitalized in the last week, also.

In Georgia, Thomas and Decatur counties saw significant increases in case count in the last week, 165 more in Thomas, and 143 more in Decatur, bringing their total number of cases to 879 in Thomas and 541 in Decatur. Thomas also logged four additional deaths in the last seven days. There were 15 new Thomas County residents hospitalized with the disease and eight more in Decatur County.

The Messenger was notified Tuesday that the Grady County Health Department would no longer supply local case data. Instead, we were directed to public health websites on the state and regional level. Because of that, The Messenger is revising the local death toll from COVID-19 from five to four. Since May 20, we have reported that five Grady County residents have died from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus based on information released by the local health department. Meanwhile, the state and region websites have kept the number of local deaths at four. Now that the newspaper must rely on those websites for the information, we will revise our reporting to reflect theirs. Local health department officials have not answered our emailed questions asking why there was a discrepancy in the information.

The Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Public Health have instructed employers in Georgia to use a symptom-based strategy for employees to return to work after having COVID-19 but not being hospitalized. Employers should no longer use the former test-based strategy (requiring two negative tests at least 24 hours apart), requiring employees undergo repeat testing, except in the event of severely compromised immune systems.

“The reason is that almost no one with COVID will remain contagious when 10 days have passed since onset of symptoms or since the date of the patient’s first positive test result,” says Dr. Charles Ruis, district health director for Southwest Public Health District. “In addition, it often takes three months for the test result to revert to normal, and that could create a financial and health hardship on them.”

The C.D.C. has reported prolonged positive test results without evidence of infectiousness. In one study, individuals were reported to have positive COVID-19 tests for up to 12 weeks post initial positive.

The ability to promptly obtain COVID test results is a challenge due to limited capacity of commercial laboratories, adds Dr. Ruis. The unnecessary repeat testing also wastes the valuable supplies and human resources required for specimen collection.

Effective July 20 per CDC – Revised Symptom-Based Isolation Ending Criteria:

•Improvement of symptoms

•Fever-free for 24 hours, while using no fever lowering medicine

•10 days since onset of symptoms or first positive test.