STATESBORO — Bulloch and surrounding counties continue to see a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases a week after Statesboro’s mayor gave a talk about the increase in cases.

July 2 saw a rise in Bulloch county’s confirmed COVID-19 case numbers from 391 to 411, which was a slight decrease in reported cases from June 30 to July 1 (339 to 391) confirmed cases. 

While this does see a slight flattening of the curve, it does not distract from the growing numbers as a whole. 

Thursday, Statesboro Mayor Jonathan McCollar drew attention to the 100% increase in cases from June 15’s 108 cases to June 24’s 219. 

The following are the latest COVID-19 numbers for Bulloch, Chatham and Liberty counties, home to Georgia Southern’s three campuses.

County	Confirmed cases	Hospitalizations
Bulloch	411	31
Chatham	1505	191
Liberty	131	16

From July 1 to 2, Chatham county saw three more hospitalizations while Bulloch county saw one more. Liberty county remained the same.

Since June 27, when Statesboro’s City Hall closed to the public following an employee testing positive for COVID-19, 1,100 local businesses were sent letters of compliance and a CodeRED announcement was sent out to Statesboro residents.

CodeRED is a messaging system that has been adopted to send out information. 

For Georgia Southern’s returning students who come from all over and staff who may have relocated for quarantine, McCollar asks that they adhere to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Georgia Department of Public Health’s (GADPH) guidelines. 

These guidelines include social distancing, wearing a facemask in public and regularly washing your hands. 

McCollar advised the student body to face the ongoing pandemic by working as a team to flatten the curve. 

For the latest updates you can check the GADPH website or Grice Connect for Statesboro-specific numbers which are updated everyday after 3 p.m. 

For more information on the ways to help flatten the curve or latest medical information, you can also visit the CDC and the DPH’s websites. 

Georgia Department of Public Health:https://dph.georgia.gov/

Grice Connect:https://griceconnect.com/

Center for Disease Control: https://www.cdc.gov/

Fernanda Camacho, News Reporter, fc00746@georgiasouthern.edu