According to the figures on the Cobb & Douglas Public Health website, the COVID 14-day case rate per 100,000 of population now stands at 824. Douglas County’s rate is now 1,031 per 100,000 of population.
Both counties blew past the case rate threshold of 100 per 100,000 of population over a 7-day period that marks high community transmission months ago, and the numbers have been moving steadily upward since.
Georgia hits highest hospitalization number since pandemic began
According to a report in the Georgia Health News, “The state has broken its record for Covid patient hospitalizations, and has reached 5,880.”
The article goes on:
The previous mark was set Jan. 12 at 5,814 hospitalized virus patients during the third Covid surge, according to Nancy Nydam, the spokeswoman.
Tuesday’s final number fell below that high.
Crisis in the hospitals
Georgia hospitals have been on diversion as the number of COVID patients in hospitals has increased. According to an August 26 press release from the Georgia Department of Public Health:
The current surge of COVID cases throughout Georgia is stretching hospital and EMS personnel and resources to unprecedented levels. As a result, many hospitals are having to declare themselves on diversion meaning they are temporarily unable to provide normal emergency care to patients arriving by ambulance. Diversion is a term specific to ambulance transports and is a request to ambulances to transport patients to other local facilitiesif possible.
After sending 105 National Guard medical personnel to Georgia hospitals to help with the influx of patients, Gov. Brian Kemp said:
“These guardsmen will assist our frontline healthcare workers as they provide quality medical care during the current increase in cases and hospitalizations, and I greatly appreciate General Carden and his team for their willingness to answer the call again in our fight against COVID-19. This Georgia National Guard mission is in addition to the 2,800 state-supported staff and 450 new beds brought online I announced last week, at a total state investment of $625 million through December of this year. I continue to urge all Georgians to talk to a medical professional about getting vaccinated.”
