They warned it was coming and, now more heartache is here. Habersham County recorded its second COVID-19 related death on April 15. The patient was a 40-year-old woman with underlying medical conditions, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Now Habersham has learned that a patient with coronavirus passed away in the Emergency Room at Habersham Medical Center recently. It’s not clear though whether that was the same person. Patient privacy laws prohibit healthcare facilities and providers from providing details.
Habersham County recorded its first COVID-19 related death on April 10. That case involved a 79-year-old woman who also had underlying medical conditions. The hospital said at the time that she did not pass away there.
Habersham Home residents test positive
Habersham has seen a rapid rise this week in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the county. It went from eight cases and no deaths on April 8 to 44 cases and two deaths on April 15. Two of the individuals who tested positive for the virus are residents of Habersham Medical Center’s nursing home.
The hospital is now taking steps to try and keep the virus from spreading among residents at Habersham Home in Demorest. HMC posted a notice to that effect on its Facebook page Wednesday.
“In adherence with CDC guidelines, the two residents will relocate to designated isolation rooms within Habersham Home,” HMC says. “This designated area will allow a single group of providers to care for our COVID-19+ residents safely and in complete isolation.”
The National Guard also will lend assistance by working with HMC’s infection control department to disinfect Habersham Home.
“Dressed in full PPE, the Guardsmen will do a preliminary walkthrough of the facilities before the disinfecting process starts,” explains HMC spokesperson Kesha Clinkscale. “Our residents will be able to stay in the facilities during the disinfecting process and they will not be in any danger during the process.”
The hospital already had asked the National Guard for assistance with infection control before the residents tested positive, says Clinkscale. The Guard is offering the service to nursing homes statewide as part of Gov. Brian Kemp’s mitigation plan.
Numbers expected to rise
To date, HMC has tested 139 people for COVID-19. Of those, 28 have tested positive and seven results are still pending.
In addition to the two nursing home patients under quarantine, one patient is being quarantined at HMC, the rest are either on self-quarantine or are being quarantined in other facilities.
There’s no additional public information available on the Habersham County residents who were diagnosed elsewhere.
As of Wednesday, the virus has killed or contributed to the deaths of at least 31 Northeast Georgians including five residents of Hall County. Statewide, 576 people have died.
Officials expect those numbers will continue to rise.
“I, unfortunately, said last week we would see the numbers increase, and I again, unfortunately, think we will see those increase more over the next week or so,” says Habersham County Emergency Services Director Chad Black. “Our good fortune of no cases or deaths for weeks has very quickly become a distant memory sadly.”
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