MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County saw a jump in its COVID-19 stats as its confirmed cases went from the 400s a couple of weeks ago to almost the 700s now. The county’s agricultural/migrant farmer population is the reason why, a Department of Public Health epidemiologist said.

The DPH is reporting Colquitt County to have 679 confirmed cases as of Tuesday morning.

Jackie Jenkins, the Southwest Georgia Public Health District epidemiologist, said a lot of the migrant farmer and agricultural population live in Colquitt County. With the increased availability of free tests, more cases were found.

Jenkins said the farming community has had a good collaboration with the DPH and Colquitt Regional Medical Center to help get their workers help when symptoms of illness show.

“When they’re seeing any kind of increase or anybody has signs and symptoms, they are getting them tested, then they’re also letting Public Health know and then we’re doing further testing,” she said.

The same goes for the manufacturing community. The increase is a combination of these communities communicating their situations. So what’s the expectation for a decrease?

Jenkins said there isn’t one at point, rather the focus is on education from here on out. 

Intervening through information is what the DPH wants to do because right now, COVID-19 is here to stay, she said.

“We’re working with the community about monitoring [it], so the earliest we find a positive case out there, we’re able to test and put people in quarantine or isolation,” Jenkins said. 

It’s all about mitigating the damage. 

Dr. Stacie Fairley, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at PCOM South Georgia, held a presentation giving a scenario on what can happen if the damage isn’t mitigated.

Sometimes that’s a hard thing given the language barriers, but that is still not an excuse. Fairley said workers are not being told to social distance, which is evident in the four to five buses that take them to Walmart on weekends.

“They’re not social distancing on that bus. They’re all on that bus together,” she said. “All it takes is for one of them to be asymptomatic and then the rest can show symptoms or not.”

It is the scariest part of COVID-19, Fairley said. And that’s why people should continue getting tested. Both Jenkins and Fairley said that. 

When Fairley gave her presentation on May 21, only 3.3 percent of Georgia had been tested for COVID-19. 

As more people get tested and results come back, the DPH can help the people who are infected and the companies they work at identify any potential contacts, making sure they quarantine too.

The DPH has been in contact with businesses and farms in the Colquitt County area about COVID-19 and potential infection, but officials said they’d have to give the list out at a later date.

As of now, Colquitt County residents can receive free drive thru COVID-19 testing from 8 a.m. to noon on Monday- Tuesday and Thursday-Friday, and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at the DPH site on 214 West Central Avenue.