Previously unreported COVID cases from the peak of the Omicron surge continue to stream in from a large lab that had not been reporting cases to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

The Daily COVID Status Report had the following message:

The number of confirmed cases in the Daily Status update includes an ongoing backlog of cases that were not previously reported by a large laboratory. We anticipate additional backlog from this lab will be added in the coming days as DPH receives these reports. The total backlog is expected to primarily include cases identified at this lab between December 2021 and February 2022 during the Omicron surge. In addition to artificially inflating the number of PCR positive tests today, the PCR percent positive will be impacted. When accounting for the backlog of positive test results, the number of recent case reports and PCR percent positive is consistent with the previous week.

The Courier will suspend reporting on the case rates until all the numbers are in, and the Georgia Department of Public Health indicates that newly posted cases are from within the current time frame, but the hospitalizations and deaths should be unaffected, so we will report the statewide figures for those, and the numbers from the Hospital bed and ventilator report.

Statewide hospitalizations today: 72

Statewide confirmed deaths: 47

Hospital bed and ventilator report

Region N which includes Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas and Paulding counties, has:

1,164general inpatientbeds in use out of 1,411 total beds, or 82.49%

157 ICU beds in use out of a total of 185 total ICU beds, or 84.86%.

153 ED beds in use out of 296 total beds, or 51.69%

72 ventilators in use out of 203 total ventilators, or 35.47%

3.4% of patients in Region N are classified as COVID-19 patients.

For more information 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