Source: South Georgia Medical Center

VALDOSTA – Another Lowndes County resident has died due to COVID-19, according to the South Health District.

The death, a 56-year-old man who was hospitalized, died Monday, according to the district. It was unknown if he had underlying health conditions, as of 3 p.m. Monday.

The additional death has not raised the total death count in Lowndes, however. Due to a duplication error that has since been corrected, nine Lowndes residents have died from the coronavirus since the start of the outbreak, said Kristin Patten, district public information officer.

The county added 14 COVID-19 cases Monday, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health daily status report.

The county has reported a total of 1,150 cases since the start of the outbreak, according to the report. 

Total COVID-19 cases in Lowndes have increased 375% since June 1, 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 243% hike in testing during the same period, indicating a possible higher rate of positive tests.

Despite continually rising case numbers, hospitalizations in Lowndes have only gone up 71%, a much smaller percentage than the new case rate.

Average new cases in Lowndes County last week actually declined for the first time since May. After averaging 36 new cases per day two weeks ago, new cases took a slight dip to 33 per day.

The South Health District has performed 11,144 coronavirus tests throughout its 10 counties, according to the Monday update of the district COVID-19 website.

The GDPH publishes the number of hospitalizations of each county’s residents. Eighty-nine 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 29 confirmed COVID-19 patients, according to its Monday daily report.

The hospital had discharged 146 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.