Calls to be fully vaccinated as Georgia's COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations rise again

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 the Fourth of July. Health experts warn that it is a matter of time before everyone is exposed to the virus, but it can be through a safe and effect vaccine or through the actual deadly virus.

ATLANTA - Georgia's COVID-19 numbers are rising again.

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

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

Dr. Cheryl Drenzek, the Georgia Department of Public Health's state epidemiologist, says for weeks this spring and early summer, Georgia's case counts have been plateauing at a low level.

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The Delta variant makes up about 20 percent of cases in the US. Research shows it's the most aggressive strain of the virus yet.

Yet, if you look at the case count over the last two weeks, she says, there has been a significant jump in new infections.

"We've really seen an increase of over 60% in our case numbers," Dr. Drenzek says. "So, we're nowhere near where we were kind of in our peak periods."

But, Dr. Drenzek says the uptick in cases and hospitalizations is worrying, especially with the spread of the more contagious new Delta variant of the virus.

"There are some countries around the world that are experiencing surges where their case numbers are just vertical," Drenzek says. "They are really going way, way up again, and we certainly don't want that to happen."

In late June, Drenzek says, the Delta variant made up less than 1% of Georgia's COVID-19 cases.

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

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

"So, the answer to increasing case numbers falls squarely on getting vaccinated," Dr. Drenzek says. "If individuals have not been vaccinated yet, now is the time to do it."

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

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Microbiologist Dr. Amber Schmidtke, Ph.D., Chair of the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Saint Mary, says there are pockets of the state with extremely low vaccination rates.

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

She says Georgia has some of the same vulnerabilities Arkansas and Missouri had at the beginning of significant surges in case numbers and hospitalizations in those states.

"So, I think we're in a really scary situation for some of our counties to experience pretty dramatic surges in the coming weeks," Schmidtke cautions.

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Kemp said the designation is no longer needed because the state's case numbers and hospitalizations are down significantly. Kemp urges people to talk to friends, family and healthcare providers about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Those outbreaks will likely be driven, she says, by the highly transmissible new variant.

"It's really not a question of if you're going to be exposed to COVID-19, it's when," Schmidtke says. "So, really the choice people need to make right now is whether they want to achieve immunity through a vaccine that has been proven safe and effective, or if they want to take their chances with a virus that kills people and puts them in the hospital."