Next Community Conversation on Wed., May 27 at 6:00 p.m. on COVID-19 Testing & the Mobile Athens Free Clinic

Join Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz each week on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 p.m. as he virtually discusses local COVID-19 responses with local staff and community members.

The next conversation takes place on Wednesday, May 27 at 6:00 p.m. with:

Mayor Kelly Girtz
District 9 Commissioner Ovita Thornton
Northeast Health District Nursing and Clinical Director Whitney Howell
Medical Director of the MPMobile / Athens Free Clinic Dr. Suzanne Lester

The first part of the conversation will be a discussion, while the second part will be a Q&A session in which Mayor Girtz and Commissioner Thornton will ask and answer questions with his guests submitted by residents.

This week's conversation will be broadcast and stream live at 6:00 p.m. on:

YouTube (www.youtube.com/accgov);
the YouTube app on mobile devices or TV systems by searching for 'accgov';
Facebook (www.facebook.com/accgov);
the ACCGov website (www.accgov.com/videos or www.accgov.com/actvlive);
ACTV cable channel 180

Have a question you'd like to have considered for this week's conversation? Submit it online at www.accgov.com/mayor by noon on May 27 or through the button below.

249 Positive Cases Confirmed in Athens-Clarke County, 13 Deaths

The state Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) case tracker (https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report) confirms 249 positive cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Athens-Clarke County with 13 deaths as of 7:00 p.m. on May 26.

The Daily Status Report is updated three times a day at 9:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. This change will enable more consistent reporting while still providing timely and actionable data.

The case tracker has recently been updated to a new format and provides additional county-level information, including the number of cases per 100,000 people (currently 191.90 for Athens-Clarke County).

If you view the data, however, please be sure to check the area showing the definitions of the information presented. Some have different meanings than what you may expect.

The 13 people who have died were ages 60-98. Eleven of those deaths occurred at a long-term care facility during March and April. For a daily report on long-term health care facilities in the state, visit the Georgia Department of Community Health’s website at dch.georgia.gov.

Older adults and people who have severe underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes are at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 and should always consult their healthcare provider if they are sick.

Athens-Clarke County Unemployment Insurance Initial Claims for April 2020

The Georgia Department of Labor released its initial April 2020 unemployment insurance initial claims for counties. For Athens-Clarke County, here are the initial numbers (subject to revision in future months) and some comparisons:

April 2020: 15,844 initial claims
March 2020: 4,868 initial claims
April 2019: 159 initial claims
A net increase of 10,976 claims from March 2020 to April 2020 (up 225%)
A net increase of 15,685 claims from April 2019 to April 2020 (up 9,800%)

The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced an April preliminary unemployment rate of 11.9% for Georgia. April's numbers represent the highest one-month recorded increase and also the highest total unemployment for the state on record. Georgia's April 2020 number of unemployed is more than 80,000 higher than the height of the Great Recession of 2009-2010.

For more information about unemployment data, visit the GDOL website at dol.georgia.gov.

Leaving your cloth mask at home? Not right now.

Information Sources

The response to COVID-19 involves both rapid and extensive changes and also deliberate measures that take some time to consider.

Once official information is released from the Georgia Department of Public Health, the Northeast Georgia Health District, the State of Georgia government, or other local partners, we will report it on www.accgov.com/coronavirus and social media.

Additionally, this COVID-19 update newsletter will go out most days with new information primarily about the ACCGov response and plans. It may also include some local area information of note as space allows.