Blog Topic: Oconee Observations

In the Loop: Oconee County Is Close to Finalizing a $65 Million SPLOST List

By Lee Becker | May 28, 2020 10:57am

Commission Chairman John Daniell hears from Animal Services manager Crystal Berisko.

Oconee County voters in November will be presented with a $64.6 million wish list of projects to be funded by a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax if the Board of Commissioners accepts a staff proposal given it last week.

Included on the list is $14.4 million for roads and bridges, $7.5 million for water and sewer projects, $6.9 million for a library and government administrative building, and $6.3 million for county broadband.

The list also includes nearly $9 million for the county’s four cities to use for their own projects.

Read More...
In the Loop: Big Jump Reported in Athens Area's COVID-19 Numbers

By Lee Becker | May 27, 2020 5:46pm

The Northeast Health District added 81 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and four new deaths in the 1 p.m. Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Wednesday.

The number of new cases is the largest number ever added in a 24-hour period, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases jumped from 24.9 on Tuesday to 34.4 on Wednesday.

The seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths in the 10-county region also increased from 1.4 on Tuesday to 1.9 on Wednesday, as the region has added 13 deaths in the last seven days.

Read More...
In the Loop: Northeast Georgia COVID-19 Cases Appear to Be Stabilizing

By Lee Becker | May 20, 2020 7:50pm

The Northeast Health District added 14 cases of confirmed COVID-19 with the 1 p.m. Department of Public Health Daily Status Report on Wednesday, and the seven-day rolling average of added cases dropped to the level it has maintained for the last week.

The 10-county region added an additional death, of a 45-year-old female in Greene County with known chronic conditions, bringing the total number of deaths to 48 and holding the seven-day rolling average of added deaths at 1.1.

The Department of Community Health Long-Term Care Facility Report issued late on Tuesday showed one additional death at a Walton County nursing home.

That report also showed an increase in COVID positive residents at the area’s long-term care facilities and an increase in the number of COVID positive staff.

Read More...
In the Loop: Oconee Sheriff Candidates Agree on Roundabouts

By Lee Becker | May 11, 2020 5:16pm

Photo Credit: Sarah Bell

James Hale (left) and Jimmy Williamson.

Oconee County sheriff candidates James Hale and Jimmy Williamson said they didn’t want to get involved in a dispute between the School Board and the Board of Commissioners and would continue to provide deputies to direct traffic at school entrances if elected and asked to do so.

At the same time, they said that having deputies in the roadway is dangerous and that they are in favor of road infrastructure changes, including roundabouts, that remove the deputies from the school entrances.

Both said they would be obligated to their deputies to help protect them by getting them out of the roadways when possible.

Read More...
In the Loop: COVID-19 Cases Spike in Northeast Georgia

By Lee Becker | May 6, 2020 5:55pm

The Northeast Health District of the Georgia Department of Public Health reported 51 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 at noon on Wednesday, the largest increase ever recorded in the district by a daily status report in a 24-hour-period.

Every county but one in the 10-county Northeast Health District reported an increase in cases, with Barrow County reporting 24 new cases.

Oconee County reported two new cases and no deaths in the Daily Status Report, but the separate Long Term Care Facility COVID-19 Report issued by the Department of Public Health listed a recent death at High Shoals Health and Rehabilitation nursing facility in North High Shoals.

Read More...
In the Loop: Georgia Records Largest Ever Number of New Coronavirus Cases

By Lee Becker | April 17, 2020 5:05pm

The state of Georgia recorded 1,525 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the 24-hour period that ended at noon on Friday, the largest number of new cases ever recorded in the Department of Public Health’s Daily Status Report.

The 10-county Northeast Health District, which includes Oconee and Clarke counties, recorded 38 new cases on Friday, the second largest number of new cases listed for the region in the Daily Status Report.

Oconee County now has 48 confirmed COVID-19 cases, up from 45 on Thursday, and Clarke County has 106, up from 102 on Thursday.

Read More...
In the Loop: COVID-19 Cases Surge but May Be Leveling Off

By Lee Becker | April 14, 2020 4:21pm

The Georgia Department of Public Health in its noon Daily Status Report on Tuesday listed 36 new cases of confirmed COVID-19 in the 10-county Northeast Health District and one additional death in Clarke County attributable to the disease.

The increase of 36 cases was the largest increase since the 46 cases were added on Tuesday a week ago and the 36 were added on Mar. 31, two weeks ago. The total number of cases in the region now stands at 355.

The added death in Clarke County was of a 76-year-old man without known underlying conditions.

Clarke County added 10 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the 24-hour period ending at noon on Tuesday, and Oconee County added two.

Read More...
In the Loop: Georgia COVID-19 Deaths Jump by 100 in 24 Hours

By Lee Becker | April 7, 2020 5:11pm

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased greatly in Oconee County and the Northeast Georgia region on Tuesday, reflecting the dramatic increase across the state in the noon Daily Status Report from the Georgia Department of Health.

Photo Credit: Lee Becker

The report shows Oconee County with 32 confirmed cases, up from 24 at noon on Monday, and Clarke County with 77, up from 69 at noon on Monday.

Across the 10-county Northeast Health District of the state Department of Health, which includes both Oconee and Clarke counties, the number of confirmed cases was 236, up from 190 at noon on Monday.

The increases were the largest ever recorded for the region, more than doubling the increase of 22 from the day before. The increase for Oconee County was also the largest increase ever shown in the Daily Status Report.

Read More...
In the Loop: COVID-19 Kills 12th Person in Northeast Georgia

By Lee Becker | April 3, 2020 4:25pm

Clarke County added one new death as a result of COVID-19 in the noon Daily Status Report for Friday, bringing the total deaths in the 10-county Northeast Health District of the Georgia Department of Health to 12.

The death was of a 98-year-old male with underlying conditions.

Elbert County, the sole county in the region without a confirmed COVID-19 case, added a single case in the 24 hour period from noon of Thursday to noon of Friday.

Read More...
In the Loop: Oconee Chairman Explains Decision Not to Require Sheltering in Place

By Lee Becker | March 30, 2020 12:37pm

Photo Credit: Lee Becker

John Daniell is interviewed via Zoom.

Citizens will not be allowed to attend the agenda-setting meeting of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, but they will be able to watch via a livestream on YouTube.

Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman John Daniell announced that decision to hold the agenda-setting meeting as usual, but minus an audience, in an interview of just more than 30 minutes length via Zoom on Sunday morning.

Shortly after that interview, the county sent out a public announcement of the meeting.

Read More...