Oconee County COVID-19 Conference Call Joint Statement Pledged Support To Patients

Press release from the Oconee County Government:

Posted on: August 24, 2020

Posted on: August 24, 2020

Oconee County COVID-19 Conference Call Joint Statement August 23

On Sunday, August 23, 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 23:

This afternoon, we held another conference call update with Piedmont Athens Regional, St. Mary’s Hospital and other local healthcare providers and want to share the latest information.

Our hospitals remain stable and able to care for our community. Now six months into the fight against COVID-19, they also remain very busy and have been working nonstop for months on end. We must continue to support those on the frontlines as they lead our community through this challenging time. This remains a difficult situation for our hospitals and healthcare providers, and we’re extremely fortunate to have such an incredible medical community.

The hospitals are busy with both COVID-19 and non-COVID patients. We discussed the influx of college students. To date, this has not had a significant impact, but we will need to continue to monitor closely over the coming weeks. We have seen an increase in deaths locally over the past several days. Deaths continue to largely impact elderly patients. We must do what we can to protect our most vulnerable. This disease impacts all of us, and we should do our part to ensure we get back to our normal way of life.

As mentioned in recent updates, treatments continue to make a positive impact. Death rates among those who are hospitalized have been cut significantly since the onset with improved treatments. Our healthcare providers remain in a good position in terms of personal protective equipment (PPE). We discussed testing, as well. The Athens Neighborhood Health Center said it is continuing to see improved turnaround times on the tests it conducts locally.

Overall, we again want to reemphasize that our healthcare providers remain stable and able to care for our community - but also continue to be under stress. As a community, we must continue to support our healthcare heroes who are keeping our community healthy. Finally, as always, we ask our community to continue wearing masks, social distance and wash hands.

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.