The number of new COVID-19 cases in Baker County dropped for the second straight week.

The number of tests has also continued to decline, and the test positivity rate has dipped only slightly.

For the week Sept. 26 through Oct. 2, the county reported 69 new cases.

That compares with 86 cases for the week Sept. 19-25 and 139 cases for Sept. 12-18 — the most for any week during the pandemic.

The totals for the previous two weeks:

• Sept. 5-11 — 128

• Aug. 29-Sept. 4 — 80

Baker County also set a record with six COVID-19-related deaths during September, and for total cases, at 465. The previous record for monthly cases was 300, in August 2021.

The total of 69 new cases for the week ending Oct. 2 was the lowest weekly total since Aug. 22-28, when there were 59 cases.

Although the county’s weekly case totals have dipped since the mid-September peak, so has the number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the county.

Weekly testing totals:

• Sept. 26-Oct. 2 — 296 (this number is preliminary; typically some tests aren’t added to tally for several days)

• Sept. 19-25 — 382 tests

• Sept. 12-18 — 580 tests

• Sept. 5-11 — 479 tests

• Aug. 29-Sept. 4 — 295 tests

The county’s positivity rate peaked at 26.5% for the week Sept. 5-11.

The rate dropped to 23.5% the following week, and to 22.2% from Sept. 19-25.

Numbers aren’t final for the most recent week, Sept. 26-Oct. 2, but the preliminary test positivity rate is 21.3%.