Source: South Georgia Medical Center

VALDOSTA – Lowndes County added 37 COVID-19 cases Monday, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health report.

The county has reported a total of 2,248 cases and 19 deaths since the start of the outbreak, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health report. 

The overall number of COVID-19 patients being treated at South Georgia Medical Center grew by six Monday. SGMC CEO Ronnie Dean said last week “virtually every bed is filled” and plans were in place in case a bed shortage occurred.  

SGMC was treating 67 patients Monday, the second highest total since the pandemic began, according to the hospital’s daily report.

Of Lowndes COVID-19 cases, the median age of an infected resident remained at 33 from two weeks prior. The age range most infected by the virus is still the 35-54 age bracket (28.84%) leading ages 11-24 (26.81%), ages 25-34 (20.14%), 55 and older (19.57%) and younger than 11 (4.64%). 

The most vulnerable population, ages 55-plus, has held steady during the past month at about 19%. 

Women in Lowndes still have been infected by the coronavirus more than men, with 8% more local cases being women than men as of July 18.

One ongoing gap in the data is race. Lowndes racial data remains a mystery with more than 54% designated as “unknown.” 

Kristin Patten, district public information officer, has said the unknown racial information stems from some private labs not collecting race information and people being uncomfortable with providing their race when signing up for a district COVID-19 test. The factors remain and prevent accurate race data from being gathered and interpreted.

Of the 19 Lowndes deaths reported from district data, the median age dropped by a single year from 78 to 77 from two weeks ago. Thirteen of the deaths were white residents, five were Black residents, one was “other race” and two were unknown. Sixteen of the deaths were women and five were men, according to the district.

Lowndes County has had 111 residents hospitalized due to COVID-19, since the start of the outbreak, according to the report.

The South Health District has performed 16,800 coronavirus tests throughout its 10 counties Monday, according to the district COVID-19 website.

SGMC had discharged 298 COVID-19 patients Monday – numbers reflecting the total patients discharged since the start of the pandemic — and had one patient waiting for testing results Monday, according to the SGMC report.

Forty-five SGMC patients have died from the virus since the outbreak of COVID-19 Monday, according to the hospital’s report.

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.

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.