Cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in Stephens County

The Georgia Department of Public Health is reporting more cases of COVID-19 in Stephens County, in total there has been 10 deaths and 528 cases of COVID-19.

The Department of Public Health is reporting that Habersham County has 47 fatalities due to the virus and 1,002 positive cases of the virus.

Locally, Stephens County Hospital and its facilities have tested 4,079 individuals for the virus.

Of those, 781 tests have come back positive with 614 patients receiving positive results, 3,263 received negative results, and 35 individuals are still awaiting their results.

Stephens County Hospital Chief Executive Officer Mike Hester says the hospital currently has seven patients hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19.

He says in the past week two patients have died at Stephens County Hospital as a result of complications from COVID-19.

One was an older individual who arrived in cardiac arrest being transferred to the hospital from another facility and was not able to be revived.

Another was an older individual who was being treated for COVID-19 at the hospital who passed away from complications from the virus.

He adds that as many hospitals across the state and the country are experiencing, Stephens County Hospital is also seeing an increase in the number of people presenting with severe, life-threatening symptoms due to COVID-19.

In other neighboring counties, Franklin County has had 346 cases and four deaths, Banks County has a total of 228 cases and three deaths, Rabun County has 176 cases and three deaths, and Hart County has 241 cases and one death.

Across the state of Georgia, the Department of Public Health is reporting a total of 182,286 cases, of those, 18,303 have been hospitalized and 3,671 have died from complications of the virus.