LIVE OAK — Two additional confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus were announced for Suwannee County on Thursday by the Florida Department of Health. The county now has 144 known cases with 17 deaths and 35 hospitalizations in positive patients.

But for the first time, the state has released recovery numbers for the virus. According to the health department, a recovery is calculated using an average time of 14 days for all cases excluding deaths. For Suwannee County, that equates to 106 recoveries, or a 74% recovery rate.

The two newest cases in the county involve 17-year-old and 19-year-old males and are connected to an existing case.

In addition to the positive cases, the health department data shows an additional 10 tests conducted from the county, bringing the total number of tests to 1,221 from Suwannee County with 1,077 negative results. The county has a 11.8% positive test rate.

Data from the health department shows that as of Wednesday afternoon there were 78 positive cases at Suwannee Health and Rehabilitation Center, including 12 staff members. Of the 66 residents at Suwannee Health that are positive, 33 have been transferred out of the facility.

Dacier Manor and the Good Samaritan Center at Advent Christian Village also have positive cases: one staff member and one resident that has been transferred out of Dacier Manor, the village’s assisted living facility. The Good Samaritan Center, a skilled nursing facility, has four positive staff members and one resident: the positive resident from Dacier Manor who is being treated at an alternate care site.

All 17 of the county’s deaths are staff or residents of long-term care facilities. The latest report from the state shows that the first 14 deaths were from Suwannee Health, 13 residents and one staff member.

Lafayette Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Mayo now has one positive resident, the third confirmed case from Lafayette County. That case, a 98-year-old female that was confirmed Tuesday, has been hospitalized.

Kerry Waldron, the administrator of health for Suwannee and Lafayette counties, said that a team was scheduled to be on site Thursday at Lafayette Nursing and Rehab to conduct mass testing at the facility.

Mass testing has been conducted at Suwannee Health, Dacier Manor, the Good Samaritan Center as well as Surrey Place Care Center and Rising Oaks in Live Oak.

Lafayette County has had 88 tests conducted with 85 results returned negative. One of the three known cases in Lafayette County has recovered, using the state criteria.

Hamilton County, which has seven known cases including one in a non-Florida resident, has had 203 total tests, 196 negative. Using the 14-day timeframe, six of the seven cases in Hamilton County have recovered.

Statewide, the health department data shows 38,828 cases as of Wednesday morning. There have been 6,765 hospitalizations in COVID patients and 1,600 deaths.