Aug. 10: Georgia, South Carolina see fewer COVID-19 cases, deaths

In a good start to the week, Georgia, Augusta and South Carolina all saw fewer new cases of COVID-19 and fewer new deaths Monday.

Georgia added 2,429 new cases for a total of 219,025, with 30 new deaths for a total of 4,229, the Department of Public Health reported.

Richmond County saw 57 new cases for 4,412, Columbia County had 43 more for 2,284, Jefferson County added seven for 504, Burke County saw three new cases for 470 and McDuffie had four more for 356. Screven County added 12 cases for 210, Lincoln and Warren counties saw two more each for 143 and 79 respectively, and Glascock County had one new case for 25. All other counties remained the same: Jenkins at 244, Wilkes at 193 and Taliaferro at 13.

Columbia County suffered one new death to increase its total to 24, and Jefferson County had one new death to make its total eight, pushing the area’s toll to 181.

The Department of Public Health received the results of 28,881 tests, of which 8.41% were positive, well below the overall average of 10.4%, according to analysis by The Augusta Chronicle.

AU Health System added a whopping 454 new cases since Saturday, reaching 5,778 since its first cases in March, spokeswoman Christen Engel said. There were also an additional nine patients for now 77 being treated in the hospital, she said.

After a spike over the weekend of COVID-19 patients admitted for treatment, University Hospital was back down to 82 on Monday, spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester said.

Doctors Hospital of Augusta saw six new cases to total 232, with 36 patients being treated in the hospital, spokesman Kaden Jacobs said.

Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta added 19 cases over the weekend to now total 347, with 76 active cases among 72 veterans, two staff and two unspecified, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reported.

South Carolina added 718 new cases to top 100,000 with 100,431, with 17 new deaths for 1,966, the Department of Health and Environmental Control reported. Aiken County had 12 new cases for 1,746 with 30 deaths and Edgefield County saw two new cases for 321 with six deaths.

The state got the results of 5,610 tests, of which 12.8% were positive, slightly above the overall average of 11.83%, analysis found.

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