Oconee County COVID-19 Conference Call Joint Statement

Press release from the Oconee County Government:

Posted on: August 10, 2020

Posted on: August 10, 2020

Oconee County COVID-19 Conference Call Joint Statement August 9

On Sunday, August 9, Chairman John Daniell participated in a conference call with area healthcare providers and hospitals regarding COVID-19. Below is a joint statement that was issued following the call on Sunday, August 9:

This afternoon, we held another conference call with both hospitals and other local healthcare providers and want to the provide the latest information on COVID-19.

Our local hospitals remain in a similar situation as our most recent update - stable, yet very busy. Our healthcare providers have been working long days for weeks and months on end, and it remains a difficult situation. That said, they remain stable and able to care for our community.

Throughout this pandemic and including the last several weeks and days, our hospitals are assisting other parts of the state as requested and taking transfer patients. They continue to have the capacity to handle our service region while doing so. Both hospitals are part of larger healthcare systems, which also provides further support as needed. Surge plans continue to be ready as necessary.

In terms of supplies, our healthcare providers report they are in a stable position. The Athens Neighborhood Health Center, one of our local testing facilities, reports that testing results turnaround time has improved significantly - which is very good news. This continues to be an area we must focus on and improve. Both hospitals continue to work with UGA to sanitize masks for reuse and have found success doing so. We’ve also received an increased supply of Remdesivir locally that is assisting in treatment of patients.

Our healthcare workers have been working extremely hard. At the beginning of the pandemic, we saw many in our community come together with an outpouring of food, letters, social media support, and overall morale boosts for our healthcare heroes. We would encourage our community’s continued support of those on the frontlines. We couldn’t get through this time without them.

Finally, as always, we want to continue to ask individuals in our community to wear masks (which helps shorten transmission distance), social distance, and wash hands. These steps are critical to bringing our numbers back down and supporting our healthcare workers.

Mayor Kelly Girtz

Mayor Dodd Ferrelle

Chairman John Daniell

Senator Bill Cowsert

Senator Frank Ginn

Representative Spencer Frye

Representative Houston Gaines

Representative Marcus Wiedower

This press release was produced by the Oconee County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.