State officials say the daily average of cases--apparently the average each day of the previous seven--shows a decline in COVID-19 cases, apparently for the last couple of days.
Editor's note: The 7 p.m. DPH numbers came in as The Planet completed the following article. Dade is now up to 15 cases rather than the 13 reported at noon and in this article.)
Dade County has been lucky so far in comparison with surrounding counties coronavirus-wise, remaining at two total cases as late as last Monday. But now--at least until the numbers are updated again at 7 p.m.--Dade has hit the reputedly unlucky number of 13 confirmed cases.
Dade County Executive Chairman Ted Rumley announced the new count at today's 3 p.m. crisis briefing along with the noon Georgia numbers, which are: 20740 cases up from 19,881 Tuesday, or 859 new cases; deaths 836 up from 799 the day before, or 37 new deaths, not as big a leap from Tuesday to Wednesday when 66 new deaths appeared on the charts overnight.
Carey Anderson, deputy county clerk for public information, responded to local confusion over the numbers with new graphs from the Georgia Department of Health. As illustrated, apparently, by the graph Ms. Anderson is exhibiting in this picture, the curve has declined for the past two or three days. You can look at those numbers and similar ones at the DPH website. Click Ms. A's pic to go there directly.
Boss Rumley, asked about the numbers, repeated his admission Tuesday that "I don't feel real good" about Gov. Brian Kemp's decision to reopen the state at what appears to be the height of the pandemic, adding, "But that's not our call." He advised employers reopening their businesses to "overkill" with safety protocols to protect their employees and said he and Alex Case, county 911 director and incidentally the mayor of Trenton, will be monitoring the process locally.
According to the governor's executive order, some businesses, such as tattoo parlors and massage therapists, can open on Friday as long as they maintain social distancing (how to give a client a tattoo or a massage from six feet away has not yet been explained) and sanitation protocols. "It's not a mandate that you open your business," Rumley reminded local proprietors. "That's up to you. We just ask you to be safe and follow all the rules."
Rumley had announced Tuesday that the DPH COVID-19 testing facility in neighboring Walker County was up and running, and today he and Sgt. Chad Payne of the Dade County Sheriff's Office answered the public's questions about it.
No, they ascertained, there is no charge for the COVID-19 swab test, but it requires a referral. Georgians may obtain a referral from their physician or clinic or, as the governor revealed Monday, download an app for prescreening at an Augusta University site --(here's a link)
https://www.augustahealth.org/expresscare/covid-19-virtual-screening)
--and go from there.
There is, however, a $40 charge for an antibody blood test, which Sgt. Chad, who took it, says insurance will not pay for. The antibody test, which determines if you've already been exposed to the virus and built up defenses against it, is elective and does not require a referral.
If you'd like to call that facility, which is a drive-through testing site, the number is (706) 802-5329.
Dade County Emergency Services Director Alex Case directed business owners and churches to an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) guide for making their establishment COVID-19 safe. Here's a link to that:
https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdf
Then Case moved on to the weather: "Storms are moving back into our area," he warned. Case said this time--it's been a week and a half since the Easter tornado ravaged Dade neighborhood--our area is at only marginal risk, meaning that spotty storms can and might pop up. The first couple of storms should be here before 8 a.m. Thursday.
Sgt. Chad Payne in his own report said if you see something called "Local Alerts" on your Facebook feed, it's something that the sheriff's office is experimenting with. "It's just a better way to notify people," he said.
And he apologized to those complaining about the sheriff's office's failure to release arrest reports to the local media for the past couple of months. A technological upgrade, he explained, had downgraded the office's ability to generate the report, and it remains (since February) unfixed. As soon as the problem is addressed, he promised, all the missing arrest reports will be produced. "It's not that we're hiding anything," he said. "It's just a bug."
In the question-and-answer session that ends these daily briefings, Rumley said the county had cleaned up Sulphur Springs Road a little to prepare it for the coming storms, but: "That road will be down for a while." Halfway up it has become impassable and repairing it will take some doing, said the Boss.
Asked whether recreational ball leagues would be able to use the county park now that the state is reopening, Rumley said that according to state and federal executive orders, that category of activity would reopen in Phase 2, a bit later in the spring. "We're behind it 100 percent," he said. "We've just got to follow these guidelines." And he said the official date that vulnerable people are recommended to resume going out in public is May 14.
Alex Case answered a question about why, nine years after the tornadoes of 2011, and after they were approved as a SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax) Dade still has no tornado shelters.
"It took three years of back and forth with FEMA," said Case, to get the shelter approved, but now: "We've got the RFP nearly done."
He said the RFP (request for proposals, or invitations for contractors to bid on the work) would go out when time permitted after the current crisis. Dade is to have three, and in the meantime will open its schools as shelters when the need arises.
And Rumley clarified that the county's matching portion of the shelters, which will be largely paid for with federal money, was what SPLOST will cover.
These briefings are livestreamed from the Dade County Ga. Facebook page at 3 p.m. every day. "Like" the page and you'll be notified when the county goes live. Alternatively, you may watch the video afterwards either on the county's page or The Planet's, where they are routinely shared.
