HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Since the start of the pandemic, Houston County has had 3,912 confirmed cases and 98 deaths, and those numbers just keep rising.
In a lot of our other counties, it's been pretty easy to pinpoint where outbreaks started, like nursing homes, schools and prisons, which also makes it easier for contact tracers to do their job, but here in Houston County, it hasn't been that simple.
Ivy Rhoades has worked with her mom at Mossy Creek Natural in Perry throughout the pandemic.
"We're doing all the things that we can to keep the business clean. We're cleaning off everything," she says.
She says in terms of customers wearing masks and social distancing, every day is different.
"I would say it's a cool mix of different people. Obviously, there are a lot of people that will wear masks and a lot of people that won't wear masks," says Rhoades. "You see young people coming in wearing masks, you see young people coming in not wearing masks. It's the same for the older generations, as well."
Houston County is now averaging about 21 new cases per day, getting closer to their highest point in mid-July at 50.
In April, they peaked around eight new cases per day.
"It has been substantial spread for throughout pretty much the entire duration of the COVID-19 response," says Michael Hokanson with the North Central Health District.
Only one percent of Houston County's cases can be traced back to a confirmed outbreak, like those in a nursing home or church.
The other 99 percent are from what they call community spread.
That means the infected person doesn't know when or where they were exposed.
"People are going out and about more, people are going back to in person schooling, they are going back to in person work," says Hokanson.
On Thursday, Houston Medical Center had 24 COVID-19 patients.
As for Houston County Schools, they've had 160 students infected with the virus since the beginning of the fall semester.
Hokanson says community spread situations make it even more difficult for contact tracers to do their job to slow the spread of the virus.
"We are seeing a relatively high incidence rate in comparison with the rest of our district and other counties in the state."
With Thanksgiving two weeks away, Hokanson says now is the time to minimize your travel and your contact with others, so you can safely be with your family for the holiday.