VALDOSTA – A day after the largest increase in Lowndes County COVID-19 cases, health officials added three more cases Tuesday, according to the 1 p.m update of the Georgia Department of Public Heath daily status report. 

The county total is now 252 cases, according to the report.

In Echols County, the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise. Due to a May 18 district testing event of 73 migrant farm workers, cases in Echols have swelled more than five times from 16 cases May 18 to 85 cases Tuesday.

Kristin Patten, district public information officer, said last week positive tests would continue to rise as results returned from the testing event.

During a Lowndes County Board of Health meeting Tuesday, Dr. William Grow, South Health District director, said about 40 people (approximately 50%) had tested positive from the May 18 event.

Four Lowndes residents have died since the outbreak of coronavirus, according to the health department report.

The district has performed 3,842 COVID-19 tests throughout its 10 counties, according to the 10 a.m. Tuesday update of the district COVID-19 website

The GDPH publishes the number of hospitalizations of each county’s residents. Forty-five Lowndes residents have been hospitalized due to COVID-19, 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 13 confirmed COVID-19 patients, according to its 12:30 p.m. Tuesday daily report.

The hospital had discharged 66 COVID-19 patients and had seven patients waiting for testing results, according to the report. 

Fifteen SGMC patients have died from the coronavirus. 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.