Cobb COVID-19 community spread numbers reach highest levels

Cobb COVID community spread — *To view details of the hover map, **click here**. Source: Georgia DPH*

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, the 14-day average number of daily reported cases in Cobb County has surpassed 600 per 100,000 people.

According to the latest figures from the Georgia Department of Health, Cobb’s current rate is 601 per 100,000, well above the “high community spread” metric.

Since October, when the county’s figure briefly dipped below 100—the threshold for what public health officials consider high community spread—that number has been on a sharp rise.

While Cobb’s climb has prompted two “surge alerts” over the last three weeks from Dr. Janet Memark, the Cobb and Douglas Public Health director, other areas of the state, particularly in rural counties of northeast Georgia, have seen that 14-day average shoot above 1,000.

Statewide the 14-day average is 619 confirmed cases per 100,000.

Memark’s alerts also were issued with the holiday season in mind. Last week, she wrote her most urgent message yet, warning of a “dire situation” as the combined PCR and antigen test figure soared close to 700.

On Tuesday, 347 more cases were confirmed in Cobb, continuing a trend of reported cases at or above 300 since early December, including a single-day record of 464 on Dec. 18.

Also on Tuesday, 6,242 more cases were confirmed across Georgia, a single-day record for reported cases.

Those figures do not specify what’s known as the “date of onset”—or when someone reports having COVID symptoms and gets tested. Georgia DPH keeps a tally of those figures, and they have been sharply rising as well over the last three months.

Cobb set—for now—a record of 446 date of onset cases on Dec. 14. That’s a provisional figure, since it comes within a 14-day window. On the same day, a record 5,379 cases also were comfirmed in Georgia, although that too is a number that is likely to be revised.

Since March, Cobb has 33,330 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 537 deaths, including six more reported Tuesday.

Cobb COVID case swipe map 12.21.20

In East Cobb, a ZIP Code swipe map updated Monday by Commissioner Bob Ott (above, with school icons shown in blue) shows 8,038 confirmed COVID cases and 120 deaths, broken down as follows:

30062: 2,349 cases, 30 deaths
30066: 2,150 cases, 30 deaths
30067: 2,044 cases, 23 deaths
30068: 1,227 cases, 35 deaths
30075: 268 cases, 2 deaths

The case totals for ZIP Code 30062 are the second-highest in Cobb County, trailing the Powder Springs ZIP Code of 30127, where 2,652 cases have been reported. (They’re also the two biggest ZIP Codes in the county, with respective populations of 65,662 and 66,395.)

In Georgia there have been 518,902 cases and 9,503 deaths since March, with 52 more fatalities reported Tuesday.

The rate of hospitalizations also has been a concern for public health officials in recent weeks. According to a statewide dashboard, 83 percent of in-patient hospital beds are currently in use; for ICU beds it’s 87.7 percent of capacity and for emergency beds it’s 60 percent.

In Cobb and Douglas counties (Region N) 90 percent of 1,287 total beds are currently in use.