Calls to be fully immunized as COVID-19 cases in Georgia, hospitalizations rise again

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COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations on the rise in Georgia

Georgia health officials have seen a steady increase in the number of new cases and hospitalizations in the state since July 4. Health experts warn that it is only a matter of time before everyone is exposed to the virus, but it can be through a safe and effective vaccine or through the deadly virus.

ATLANTA – Georgia’s COVID-19 count is on the rise again.

New infections, emergency room visits for coronavirus-like symptoms, and the percentage of people testing positive for the virus are all increasing.

As of Tuesday afternoon, state health officials reported 725 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, 109 new hospitalizations and 19 deaths.

Dr Cheryl Drenzek, state epidemiologist with the Georgia Department of Public Health, said for weeks this spring and early summer, the number of cases in Georgia was leveling off at a low level.

Healthcare professional recommends wearing mask indoors to avoid highly transmissible variant of COVID-19 Delta

The Delta variant accounts for about 20% of cases in the United States. Research shows it to be the most aggressive strain of virus to date.

Still, if you look at the number of cases over the past two weeks, she says, there has been a significant increase in new infections.

“We have really seen an increase of over 60% in our number of cases,” says Dr. Drenzek. “So we’re a long way from where we were sort of in our peak times.”

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But, according to Dr Drenzek, the rise in cases and hospitalizations is cause for concern, especially with the spread of the new, more contagious Delta variant of the virus.

“There are countries in the world that are experiencing flare-ups where their number of cases is just vertical,” Drenzek said. “They really go back a long way, and we sure don’t want that to happen.”

At the end of June, according to Drenzek, the Delta variant accounted for less than 1% of COVID-19 cases in Georgia.

As of last week, it was linked to about 12% of infections statewide.

An overview of the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine in Georgia

The FOX 5 I-Team analyzed the numbers from raw data provided by the Georgia Department of Public Health to determine the effectiveness of the three coronavirus vaccines approved in the state.

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Now, she says, if you look at the CDC’s prediction models, up to 30% of the new cases here could be linked to the hyper-transmissible variant.

“So the answer to the increasing number of cases rests squarely on vaccination,” says Drenzek. “If individuals have not yet been vaccinated, now is the time to do so.”

About 39% of Georgians are now fully vaccinated and 44% have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

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Microbiologist Amber Schmidtke, Ph.D., president of the natural sciences and mathematics division at Saint Mary’s University, says there are pockets of the state with extremely low vaccination rates.

Schmidtke writes a newsletter on the impact of the pandemic in Georgia, and she is particularly concerned about rural counties, where fewer people are getting vaccinated.

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She says Georgia has some of the same vulnerabilities as Arkansas and Missouri at the start of significant increases in the number of cases and hospitalizations in those states.

“So I think we’re in a really scary situation for some of our counties to experience some pretty dramatic surges in the coming weeks,” warns Schmidtke.

Governor Brian Kemp believes public health emergency should end

Kemp said the designation was no longer needed as the number of cases and hospitalizations in the state were down significantly. Kemp urges people to tell friends, family and healthcare providers about the COVID-19 vaccine.

These outbreaks are likely to be caused, she says, by the new highly transmissible variant.

“It’s really not a question of whether you’re going to be exposed to COVID-19, it’s when,” Schmidtke says. “So the really choice people have to make right now is whether they want to gain immunity from a vaccine that has been shown to be safe and effective, or whether they want to try their luck with a virus that kills people and put them in the hospital. “

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