Coronavirus updates include dramatic decline in case count at UGA

The University of Georgia is reporting a dramatic drop in positive tests for coronavirus, down 70 percent over the past week: UGA says 421 positive tests were reported through the University’s reporting system for the period of September 7 through 13, down from more than 1,600 cases a week ago. Of the latest campus cases of coronavirus, 404 were students, 16 were staff, and one was a UGA faculty member.

Coronavirus is the Grinch that steals a Christmas parade in Madison County: the City Council in Comer says the annual holiday parade and tree lighting will not be held this year. The annual Gold Rush Days Festival in Dahlonega is another casualty of coronavirus: organizers of the event in Lumpkin County say they are canceling because of concerns about COVID 19.

As coronavirus case counts continue to decline in Winder, the Barrow County School District makes plans to put more students back in classrooms. Barrow County began the school year with virtual learning but now plans to have all students back on campuses for in-person instruction starting next Monday.

You will have to mask up in Banks County, at least on government property in Homer: the Homer City Council has signed off on an ordinance requiring masks in Homer City Hall.

Mark Ivester was laid to rest after a private funeral held Wednesday in Toccoa: the president of North Georgia Technical College died last week, coronavirus at the age of 57. Ivester had been president at North Georgia Tech since 2016.

The Georgia Department of Public Health says the state added another two dozen deaths from coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the total since March to 6,419. There have been another 219 coronavirus hospitalizations in Georgia.

Cox Media Group