VALDOSTA — South Georgia Medical Center has seen a sharp decline in the number of COVID-19 patients treated during the past week.

After treating 71 coronavirus patients last Monday, the number of patients ill from the virus dropped to 44 Sunday, according to the hospital’s daily status report.

SGMC COVID-19 patient numbers had held close to 70 for nearly three weeks prior to the nearly 40% drop in patients during the past week.

In Lowndes County, seven more cases of COVID-19 were reported Sunday, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health daily status report.

Lowndes County has reported 3,255 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, according to the GDPH report.

So far, 158 Lowndes residents have been hospitalized due to COVID-19, since the start of the outbreak, according to the report.

Fifty Lowndes County residents have died from COVID-19, according to the GDPH report. 

The South Health District has performed 23,073 coronavirus tests throughout its 10 counties as of Sunday, according to the district COVID-19 website.

At SGMC, 86 patients have died from the virus since the outbreak of COVID-19, 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.

SGMC has discharged 513 COVID-19 patients – numbers reflecting the total patients discharged since the start of the pandemic — and had two patients waiting for testing results, according to the SGMC report.

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.