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Athens Had No COVID Cases the Past Three Days

Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Athens has not had a confirmed case of COVID-19 since Friday, with three straight days of zero cases, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

The seven-day running average of new cases stood at two on Monday, the lowest point since July.

But the virus remains deadly, killing four Athens residents over the past week, including a 4-year-old girl. That brings the total deaths among Clarke County residents to 213.

Twenty-four COVID patients are currently hospitalized in Region E, which includes Athens and surrounding counties, making up 4.4% of all patients. Local intensive care units are 90% full.

Wastewater data collected by UGA Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases professor Erin Lipp last week was variable and inconclusive, with levels at times falling below the point of detection. Viral loads in wastewater often indicate whether cases will rise or fall in the future.

“At this point, there is no clear trend in viral load,” according to Lipp’s lab. “There is no clear inflection point to indicate that viral loads are increasing or decreasing.”

However, public health experts are warning that the new BA.2 variant could lead to an uptick in cases. It’s even more transmissible than the highly contagious Omicron BA.1 variant.

Clarke County’s vaccination rate remains low, with 53% of residents at least partially vaccinated, 49% fully vaccinated and 23% boosted, according to DPH.

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