We're All in This Together Video

As we enter the Labor Day weekend and beyond, each of us has a shared mission for the health and livelihood for the full community. In class, on campus, at work, downtown, and in the world beyond, wear a mask, watch your distance, wash your hands frequently, and avoid large gatherings. Thank you for joining us in this effort. We're all in this together.

Watch this short video from the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government, St. Mary's Health Care System, Piedmont Athens Regional, and the University of Georgia communities about working together to help slow the spread of COVID-19. (Direct link: https://youtu.be/kQBXWVEIDng).

Local Loan & Grant Applications for Athens-Clarke County Small Businesses Open Sept. 8

Funded through the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government (ACCGov) and the federal CARES Act, the Joint Development Authority (JDA) of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County and the City of Winterville and the Northeast Georgia Business Alliance are opening applications for emergency grants and low-interest emergency loans to provide assistance to local small businesses impacted by COVID-19.

The JDA is offering both low-interest loans and small business grants. Both are targeted to small businesses with 1-10 employees that are physically located in Athens-Clarke County. The $1 million emergency Turntable Revolving Loan Program is funded through the ACCGov Mayor & Commission’s Resiliency Package, while the $1.6 million for emergency business grants is funded through the federal CARES Act.

Applications for JDA loans and grants will open at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 8, with an application submission deadline of Tuesday, September 22. The grant program is first-come, first-served for eligible businesses. More information, including eligibility criteria, is available at https://sites.google.com/view/jda-acc-winterville. The application will be available and open on the website at 8:00 a.m. on September 8.

The Northeast Georgia Business Alliance is offering emergency grants for small businesses located in Athens-Clarke County, funded through the federal CARES Act. Information about the Northeast Georgia Business Alliance’s grant program, including the application, is available online at www.negabusinessalliance.org. Applications will open on Tuesday, September 8 with an application submission deadline of Wednesday, September 30.

The mission of the Joint Development Authority of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia and the City of Winterville is to equitably support entrepreneurs to revive and grow successful small businesses in Athens-Clarke County, increase revenue, create new jobs, and foster economic connections among and between Athens-Clarke County businesses, as well as globally.

The mission of the Northeast Georgia Business Alliance is to expand access to capital and procurement opportunities for African-American organizations in Northeast Georgia.

For more information about the Joint Development Authority of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County and the City of Winterville, contact jda@accgov.com. For more information about the Northeast Georgia Business Alliance, contact office@negabusinessalliance.org.

3,410 Positive Cases Confirmed in Athens-Clarke County, 32 Deaths

The Georgia Department of Public Health Daily Status Report (https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report) confirms 3,410 positive cases of COVID-19 and 32 deaths reported in Athens-Clarke County as of 2:50 p.m. on September 4.

ACCGov updates the graphic with case information on it most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for social media. The graphic was updated as of September 2 to now include the increase in positive cases since the last update and the number of deaths.

The September 4 update shows an increase of 261 positive cases and 2 deaths since Wednesday, September 2.

These are cumulative cases total since February 25, 2020. For reference, cumulative numbers from the beginning of each month:

September 1 - 3,082
August 1 - 1,694
July 1 - 574
June 1 - 293
May 1 - 155
April 1 - 54
March 1 - 4

The Daily Status Report is now updated once daily at 3:00 p.m. to allow time to process and validate laboratory and case reports. If you view the data, please be sure to check the area showing the definitions of the information presented. Some, such as "hospitalizations," have different meanings than what may be expected.

Georgia COVID-19 Data Hub Replaces State Situation Report on Sept. 5

With the recent release of the web-based COVID-19 Data Hub by the Georgia Geospatial Information Office, effective Saturday, Sept. 5, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA / HS) will no longer publish the daily COVID-19 Situation Report (SITREP).

Data in the SITREP, including hospitalization bed and ventilator capacity, and other information now available on the Georgia COVID-19 Data Hub, far exceeds what was being produced manually by GEMA/HS.

The majority of data on the GIO COVID-19 page is updated once daily at 3:00 p.m. and converted to the supporting datasets available for download. Some information is updated more frequently giving the most up-to-date snapshot of the COVID-19 situation available.

Users who navigate to the Georgia COVID-19 Data Hub will find the hospitalization data on the dashboard by scrolling down the page to the section titled “Maps of Regional Hospital Capacity.”

The maps in this section include hospital numbers by region, and the Medical Facility Patient Census shows the number of COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized overall, and by region. These numbers are updated twice daily as opposed to the once daily updates produced in the GEMA/HS SITREP.

The new data hub is available at covid-hub.gio.georgia.gov.

Positive COVID-19 Tests Reported Through DawgCheck

The University of Georgia DawgCheck tool gives members of the campus community the ability to self-monitor and to facilitate information sharing internally and with the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH). Any student or employee with a positive COVID-19 test is required to report the test in DawgCheck.

The table above reflects the total number of positive test results reported through DawgCheck each week. It is updated every Wednesday. Please note the following:

Positive tests reported through DawgCheck are from any of the approximately 50,000 faculty, staff, and students connected to the University of Georgia, whether located in Athens, extended campuses, extension offices across the state, or even other states and countries for students who elected to take online classes.
The totals may include reports from individuals who have not been on campus recently, there may be delays in reporting, and the totals may even include individuals who have recovered.
Therefore, the data does not serve as an accurate barometer of the current status of COVID-19 at any point in time at any one of UGA’s campuses.
The “Other” category in the survey tool is provided to indicate that a test was not done by a resource in the Athens-Clarke County community. Many of the positive reports in this category are reported to be from urgent care clinics and testing centers at a wide variety of locations in and out of the state of Georgia.
The University has no way to validate the majority of these reports or the quality of those unknown testing sites but is reporting them as submitted.

DawgCheck and other University of Georgia-related COVID information is available at the University Health Center website at https://uhs.uga.edu/healthtopics/covid-19-health-and-exposure-updates.

Frequency of Updates

This coronavirus email / text update is sent once to twice a week during normal weeks, with other updates as necessary with important information.

Questions can still be directed to www.accgov.com/coronavirus, which will be updated regularly, the info line at 706-613-3333, or coronavirus@accgov.com.