Three Lowndes residents die from COVID-19; 36 more cases Tuesday

Published 3:30 pm Tuesday, June 23, 2020

VALDOSTA – Three Lowndes County residents have died from COVID-19 this week, according to a health report released Tuesday.

They are the first coronavirus deaths in Lowndes County in two months.

The three people – a 57-year-old man, a 77-year-old woman and a 78-year-old woman – were residents of Lowndes and all had underlying health conditions, according to the South Health District. Two had been hospitalized at South Georgia Medical Center, according to SGMC Director of Marketing Erika Bennett, but the 77-year-old woman was not, per the district.

The three deaths raise the death count in Lowndes from four to seven.

The Georgia Department of Public Health daily status reported six deaths on its Tuesday update, but Kristin Patten, South Health District public information officer, verified the total is actually seven. 

The number of COVID-19 cases in Lowndes grew by 38 Tuesday, according to the GDPH report.

The county has reported a total of 975 cases since the start of the outbreak, according to the report.

Total COVID-19 cases in Lowndes have increased 318% since June 1, according to the The Valdosta Daily Times COVID-19 database.

Compared to testing data from the district, the June jump in cases remains disproportionally higher than the district’s 209% hike in testing during the same period, indicating a possible higher rate of positive tests.

2455 people have been tested at SGMC drive-thru testing location at the Smith-Northview location, according to Bennett. That’s up from the 1,000 tests performed during May, she said.

Despite continually rising case numbers, hospitalizations in Lowndes have only gone up 42%, a drastically smaller percentage than the new case rate.

In the South Health District, 9,602 COVID-19 tests have been performed throughout its 10 counties, according to the Tuesday update of the district COVID-19 website.

The GDPH publishes the number of hospitalizations of each county’s residents. Seventy-four Lowndes residents have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak, according to the report.

The additional information should not be confused with the hospitalization numbers published daily by South Georgia Medical Center. Not all SGMC patients are Lowndes County residents and some patients who have been transferred from other regional hospitals have tested positive for COVID-19, according to past reports.

SGMC was treating 24 confirmed COVID-19 patients, according to its Tuesday daily report.

The hospital had discharged 123 COVID-19 patients and had two patients waiting for testing results, according to the report. 

SGMC experienced two more coronavirus deaths Tuesday, bringing the total to 19 patient deaths since the outbreak of the virus. Four patients have died from COVID-19 at the hospital in June. Again, not all SGMC patients are Lowndes County residents.

For more data on Lowndes and the surrounding counties, The Valdosta Daily Times has created a database to track COVID-19 across the South Health District.

To reach the database, click the link here.