The Georgia Department of Public Health Daily Status Report was posted today, after several days of absence due to problems with the state’s Electronic Laboratory Reporting system.

The message from the GDPH posted with the report reads as follows:

“Today’s dashboard numbers are an accurate reflection of current case and test data. The change from the prior update represents the resolution of issues with ELR. A forthcoming news release will provide additional background on the issue and the resolution of it.”

The Courier will provide further details when the department issues its press release.

According to the latest report, Cobb County has a case rate of 2,120.19 per 100,000 of the population for the latest 14-day period. There were 16,762 new cases over the 14-day reporting period. The numbers released on January 5 showed a case rate of 2,067.58, and 16,349 new cases, so there has been an increase in the case rate since the last update was issued.

There have been 1361 deaths in the county since the pandemic began, compared with 1353 on the January 5 report, so there have been eight deaths since last week’s report.

Hospital Bed and Ventilator Use report for Region N

Region N includes Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas, and Paulding counties.

Region N has 

1,253 general inpatient beds in use out of 1,467 total beds, or 85.41% of capacity.

192 ICU beds in use out of a total of 200 total ICU beds, or 96.00% of capacity.

256 ED beds in use out of 322 total beds, or 79.50% of capacity.

117 ventilators in use out of 179 total ventilators, or 65.36% of capacity.

Statewide data reported Today 

Confirmed Cases	Antigen Positive Cases	Confirmed Deaths	Hospitalizations
79,739	21,598	118	1,297

For data on COVID in Cobb County and statewide

Cobb & Douglas Public Health runs the case rate on their home page, although it is not updated frequently.

Visit the Cobb & Douglas Public Health home page by following this link

A more frequently updated summary of the statistics on COVID for Cobb County is the CDC’s County View page for Cobb County. The numbers come from the Georgia Department of Public Health but are displayed in a much easier-to-read way than the sprawling GDPH website. From this page you can get the one-week figures on the number of new cases, case rate per 100,000 of population, hospitalizations, deaths, and the percentage change from the previous 7-day period. It also includes data on testing and vaccination rates.

Visit the CDC County View page for Cobb County by following this link

The Georgia Department of Public Health publishes a daily status report on the pandemic every afternoon at around 3 p.m. It’s a comprehensive report with extensive data and charts arranged statewide and by county, that also includes age breakdowns, racial demographics, and data on vaccination and testing.

It isn’t the easiest system to navigate, but it’s worth spending time learning how to use if you’re interested in getting the latest statewide and local data on the state of COVID-19.

Visit the Georgia Department of Public Health Daily Status Report by following this link

To get an overview of how much the pandemic is stressing the hospital systems in terms of ER visits, hospital bed capacity, and ventilator use, there is a Hospital Bed and Ventilator Use report with interactive maps. The map is organized by hospital region, and Cobb County is part of Region N.

Visit the Georgia Hospital Beds and Ventilator Report by following this link

To get data on what percentage of patients in Georgia hospitals were admitted for COVID-19 versus all other causes, there is a Georgia Medical Facility Patient Census. It also reports numbers by statewide and hospital region.

Visit the Georgia Medical Facility Patient Census by following this link