Dr. Janet Memark, the district health director for Cobb & Douglas Public Health sent out the following message about the record number of hospitalizations in the county from COVID-19, and the alarming community transmission of the disease in the county.

Here is the statement she issued:

Good afternoon Cobb and Douglas Communities. 
 
One week before Christmas, and we are met with the hope of ending this pandemic with the release of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination and the pending review of the Moderna vaccine this week. You can find more out about this in our newsletter below. However, I would be remiss to not mention the dire situation that our community is facing.
 
Case rates are 678/100,000 in Cobb County and 727/100,000 in Douglas county when you add in the rapid antigen test results for the last two weeks. That is over 6-7 times what would be considered high transmission. We are in substantial, community transmission of COVID-19. Hospitals are extremely full with a record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations to match the record number of cases that we are seeing. Much of what we are seeing is thought to be due to the holiday traveling and gathering from the Thanksgiving vacation.
 
Many of you may have heard that Cobb schools announced an early switch to virtual learning for the rest of the week before the holiday break. I know that this is an inconvenience to many of our families, but the rising number of cases being brought into the schools increases the risk of in-school transmission. We work collaboratively with the school districts to help them have the safest environment for both students and faculty. These extra days will also allow Cobb & Douglas Public Health and Cobb County School District staff to complete case investigation and contact tracing on existing cases in an attempt to keep families of students/staff healthy during the holiday break.
 
Vaccination for the mass population is still months away. Many of our residents can be hospitalized or lose their lives to COVID-19 in that time frame. We need you to help us slow this down and reverse the trajectory that we are on. 
 
Please do the following:
 
Wear your masks in public
Do not gather with those outside of your immediate family or bubble
Watch your distance from others – at least 6 feet
Wash your hands

We know these actions work and it is critically important that we all do our part to fight this virus.Sincerely, 
Janet Pak Memark M.D., M.P.H, F.A.C.P.
District Health Director
District 3-1: Cobb & Douglas Public Health

Good afternoon Cobb and Douglas Communities. 
 
One week before Christmas, and we are met with the hope of ending this pandemic with the release of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination and the pending review of the Moderna vaccine this week. You can find more out about this in our newsletter below. However, I would be remiss to not mention the dire situation that our community is facing.
 
Case rates are 678/100,000 in Cobb County and 727/100,000 in Douglas county when you add in the rapid antigen test results for the last two weeks. That is over 6-7 times what would be considered high transmission. We are in substantial, community transmission of COVID-19. Hospitals are extremely full with a record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations to match the record number of cases that we are seeing. Much of what we are seeing is thought to be due to the holiday traveling and gathering from the Thanksgiving vacation.
 
Many of you may have heard that Cobb schools announced an early switch to virtual learning for the rest of the week before the holiday break. I know that this is an inconvenience to many of our families, but the rising number of cases being brought into the schools increases the risk of in-school transmission. We work collaboratively with the school districts to help them have the safest environment for both students and faculty. These extra days will also allow Cobb & Douglas Public Health and Cobb County School District staff to complete case investigation and contact tracing on existing cases in an attempt to keep families of students/staff healthy during the holiday break.
 
Vaccination for the mass population is still months away. Many of our residents can be hospitalized or lose their lives to COVID-19 in that time frame. We need you to help us slow this down and reverse the trajectory that we are on. 
 
Please do the following:
 
Wear your masks in public
Do not gather with those outside of your immediate family or bubble
Watch your distance from others – at least 6 feet
Wash your hands

We know these actions work and it is critically important that we all do our part to fight this virus.

Sincerely, 
Janet Pak Memark M.D., M.P.H, F.A.C.P.
District Health Director
District 3-1: Cobb & Douglas Public Health

For more information about COVID-19 in Cobb County and Georgia ….

The daily status report from the Georgia Department of Public Health is posted daily at 3 p.m.

In addition to the total confirmed cases, hospitalization and death, the report includes other information such as demographic breakdown by race/ethnicity, sex and age.

You can also download the data in CSV format at this link, so you can open it in a spreadsheet and build different views of the data yourself.

There is also a guide to understanding the data here.

The Georgia Department of Public Health describes the data collection process as follows:

The Daily Status Report is updated once daily at 3 p.m. Data are reported to the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) from numerous labs, hospitals and providers in various ways.

Electronic Laboratory Reports (ELR) are data files transmitted to DPH that contain patient identifiers, test information and results. Individual “case” reports may also be submitted through DPH’s secure web portal, SendSS, from healthcare providers and other required reporters. These reports often contain more specific patient information. In either reporting scenario, data may be incomplete.

Data displayed on the DPH Daily Status Report reflect the information transmitted to DPH, but may not reflect all current tests or cases due to timing of testing and data reporting