Dougherty County leaders gather to give latest data on COVID-19 impact

ALBANY, Ga. – Dougherty County and Albany leaders are saying that the COVID-19 positivity rate within the community has lowered, but it’s just not low enough.

“The rate of positive tests in the last week or so has been around 8.6% and we would love for it to be down below 5%,” said Southwest Health District Health Director Charles Ruis.

A 5% positivity rate may seem far away or difficult to achieve considering on a state level, the positivity rate is at 9.4%, however back in June, Dougherty County hit that 5% mark.

“Just a few weeks ago it was around 10 or 11 so we have made some improvement in the last week or two in Dougherty County.”

Dougherty County was once a global hotspot for COVID-19 cases per capita and coronavirus deaths. 

“In March we had 39 deaths, April we had 86 deaths, May we had 26 deaths, June we had 6 deaths, July we had 12 deaths, we went up a little bit, and so far in August we had a total of nine deaths, like I said the death rate has declined tremendously,” said Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler.

A total of 178 Dougherty County residents have died from coronavirus complications. And Although the death rate has decreased significantly, within the last 30 days, 22 residents have died according to Fowler’s data.

Fowler issued a challenge for residents in an effort to encourage following CDC guidelines.

“I want to encourage you mask up… if we could mask up for the next 14 days what a change it would have here in Dougherty County,” he said.