COVID-19 cases in Athens have fallen to levels not seen since last summer. The seven-day running average of new cases was 5.6 per day on Mar. 4. The last time it was that low was July 8, 2021, before the Delta surge began.
Levels of coronavirus in Athens wastewater confirms that the virus is in retreat—for now. Viral loads in wastewater samples taken by professor Erin Lipp’s lab at the UGA Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases were the lowest they’d been since June 2021.
But people with the virus continue to suffer and die. Four Athens residents died of COVID-19 last week, bringing the total for the pandemic to 207, not including nine more deaths the Georgia Department of Health classifies as “probable.” Eight residents were hospitalized, bringing the cumulative total to 1,123. So far, the virus has infected at least 26,043 residents, with another 3,433 positive antigen tests recorded by DPH.
Local hospitals are at a fairly typical 80% capacity, but intensive care unit beds remain in high use, with 65 of 70 occupied as of Mar. 6. The number of COVID patients has declined drastically to 42, or 7% of all patients. At the height of the Omicron surge it topped 40%.
The Athens-Clarke County Commission is scheduled to vote Tuesday, Mar. 8 to relax a rule requiring public-facing ACC employees to wear masks. The citywide mask ordinance remains on the books but is not currently being enforced because the county is seeing fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. Masks are also optional at the Clarke County Courthouse as of Mar. 1. However, masks are still required on Athens and UGA buses per federal rules.
The Clarke County School District, which also went mask-optional last week, reported fewer than 10 cases in local schools. At UGA, where masks have always been optional no matter how many people get infected, 31 cases were reported for the week of Feb. 21.
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