219 New COVID-19 Cases in County Since Monday and Two More Deaths

The rapid increase in cases of COVID-19 in Effingham County was magnified in case numbers released Friday by the Effingham County Health Department.

The Department notes two additional COVID-related deaths this week, bringing the number of COVID-related deaths in the county since the pandemic began to 80.

The latest deaths are those of a man in his 60s and a woman in her 80s.

219 new positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the county since Monday. That brings the seven-day total to 309.

138 of those new cases are in people 40 or younger, 79 of them in those teenage or younger. 

The Health Department is encouraging citizens not to send children to school who are sick or who have been close contacts to positive cases.