Number of COVID-19 deaths among black Dougherty County residents reaches 100

ALBANY — After seven weeks of deaths of Dougherty County residents from COVID-19 in the double digits, with one exception, the total for the previous week declined to two.

The week that ended Saturday, though, saw the county reach one grim milestone as the number of black victims reached 100.

During the coronavirus crisis, 128 Dougherty County residents have died, Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler said during a telephone interview. There were seven deaths of coronavirus-positive residents the week of April 19-May 7, but that number nearly doubled the next week to 13.

The most deaths for any one week — 29 — occurred the week of March 29-April 4. There were 25 deaths the following week.

“That’s where it is, we’ve got two,” Fowler said. “This is good compared to where we were. It’s a whole lot better. We’ll be glad when we get it to zero.”

The majority of deaths have been of victims who had an underlying health condition.

“Diabetes is one of the main ones,” Fowler said. “(Also) hypertension, heart disease, cancer, HIV.”

Among those who have died in the county, 27 have been white and one Latino.

With restrictions lifted on funerals, Fowler said it is important to maintain social distancing even as families grieve. Through much of the crisis, funerals were limited to graveside services attended by 10 or fewer. Those restrictions are no longer in place, but Fowler encouraged people to follow recommendations of wearing masks when around others and to maintain a distance of 6 feet apart.

“That’s going to be key to staying safe,” he said. “Especially the older people need to stay in. I don’t think they need to be going to funerals now. The ones who have been exposed to someone who has the virus need to stay in, too, because we want to keep this trend going and not be increasing.”

Testing of southwest Georgia residents being provided by the Georgia National Guard behind the Albany Civic Center will be closed on Sunday for Mother’s Day but will resume on Monday.

While the overall trend of hospital admissions has been downward in recent weeks, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital reported on Friday that there were several consecutive days of COVID-19 admissions this week.

As of Friday, there were 64 Covid-19 patients in Albany and 13 at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus.

“That is a clear reminder that transmission of the virus continues in our community,” Phoebe Putney Health System CEO Scott Steiner said of the increase in admissions. “We have not yet beaten this virus.

“In order to make sure those slight increases don’t become a trend, we encourage everyone to continue to be smart by wearing masks at work and in public and practicing proper social distancing. We all need to do our part to help eradicate COVID-19 from our area.”

Special Photo: Michael Fowler