Source: South Georgia Medical Center

VALDOSTA – Lowndes County added 26 COVID-19 cases Thursday, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health daily status report.

The county has reported a total of 1,263 cases since the start of the outbreak, according to the report. 

Total COVID-19 cases in Lowndes have grown 411% since June 1, according to The Valdosta Daily Times COVID-19 database.

Compared to testing data from the district, the jump in cases remains disproportionally higher than the district’s 270% hike in testing during the same period, indicating a possible higher rate of positive tests.

Despite rising case numbers locally, the seven-day rolling average of new cases in Lowndes has declined some during the past two weeks, falling from 40.9 June 23 to 31.9 Thursday.

The largest age range infected by the virus continues to be people ages 11-24 years old. As of Saturday, the younger age bracket had contracted 30.81% of the local COVID-19 cases.

Despite continually rising case numbers, hospitalizations in Lowndes have only gone up 81%, a much smaller percentage than the new case rate.

The South Health District has performed 12,360 coronavirus tests throughout its 10 counties, according to the Thursday update of the district COVID-19 website.

The GDPH publishes the number of hospitalizations of each county’s residents. Ninety-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 41 confirmed COVID-19 patients, according to its Thursday daily report.

The hospital had discharged 156 COVID-19 patients and had zero patients waiting for testing results, according to the report. 

Twenty-six SGMC patients have died since the outbreak of the virus. 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.