Source: South Georgia Medical Center

VALDOSTA – Two more COVID-19-related deaths have been confirmed in Lowndes County, according to the South Health District.

A 78-year-old man and an 86-year-old woman, who were both hospitalized, died Tuesday, according to the district. The woman had underlying health conditions, but as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, it was unknown whether the man had underlying health issues.

After going nearly two months without a coronavirus death, seven Lowndes residents have succumbed to the virus since June 22. Eleven Lowndes residents have died from the coronavirus since the start of the outbreak, according to the district

The county added 49 COVID-19 cases Tuesday, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health daily status report.

The county has reported a total of 1,199 cases since the start of the outbreak, according to the report. 

Total COVID-19 cases in Lowndes grew 391% in the month of June, according to 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 252% 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 week.

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

The elderly population in Lowndes, ages 55 and older, represent only 18. 53% of cases but are the only age bracket to have deaths from COVID-19 so far. 

The median age of cases in Lowndes is 33 years old whereas the median age of Lowndes deaths, albeit a tiny sample size, is 77, according to the district.

Despite continually rising case numbers, hospitalizations in Lowndes have only gone up 73%, a much smaller percentage than the new case rate.

The South Health District has performed 11,574 coronavirus tests 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. Ninety 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 has added 12 coronavirus patients during the past 48 hours. The hospital was treating 37 confirmed COVID-19 patients, according to its Tuesday daily report.

The hospital had discharged 149 COVID-19 patients and had zero patients waiting for testing results, according to the report. 

Twenty-four 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.