A total of 375 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Cobb County on Thursday, a one-day record since figures started to be compiled in March.
The seven-day moving average of case totals also moved to its highest point during the pandemic, to 270.3 cases per day in the county.
Those figures from the Georgia Department of Health’s COVID-19 Daily Status Report are according to the date they were reported to the state, not the day a COVID-19 test was confirmed positive by a county health agency.
Georgia also set a single-day “date of report” record Thursday, with 6,126 new cases, along with 55 deaths. Cobb’s death total rose from 509 to 511, the second-highest in the state behind Fulton County, which has 697 deaths.
The previous single-day date of report record in Cobb, 363, was reported on Dec. 4, and lasted less than a week.
The sharp rise in cases also is occurring in the “date of onset” category for Cobb and Georgia. That data is shown in the Daily Status Report with a 14-day window; those figures are provisional and are likely to be revised.
On Nov. 30, there were 266 cases in Cobb that were confirmed on that day, or “date of onset.” That’s the highest single-day number in the county since a summer surge of cases in July that occasionally saw more than 300 cases a day.
In Cobb there were 250 cases on Dec. 1 according to date of onset, and 254 cases the following day.
Cobb has reported 29,175 cases of COVID-19 since March. In the last two weeks, 3,212 cases have been reported, and the level of community spread continues to grow.
As of Thursday, the 14-day average of cases per 100,000 population is 406, the highest since the summer.
Public health officials consider a 14-day average of 100 cases per 100,000 to be high community spread. Cobb dipped under 100 for a day in August, but that figure has gradually increased through the fall.
Last Friday, Dr. Janet Memark, the director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, issued a “surge alert” expressing concern about “an alarming number of cases being reported to public health this week. The timing is right for the beginnings of the results of any activities over the Thanksgiving break.”
She said that emergency room visits and hospitalizations are on the rise, and “critical care beds for the district remain critically low” and there is “a continuing rise in patients with COVID-19 requiring hospitalization.” She did not provide any figures.
Date of report cases in Georgia have been at their highest since late November, far surpassing the summer surge. The state’s previous one-day record was 4,780 in July, but that figure has been eclipsed three times in the last two weeks.
Before Thursday’s reported case record, there were 5,015 cases on Dec. 1 and 4,867 on Dec. 4. The state 7-day moving average also is at its highest point, 4,148.4 cases a day.
In the date of onset category, 4,213 cases were reported on Dec. 3, the highest since those figures pushed beyond 5,000 for several days during the summer.
To date there have been 462,175 COVID-19 cases in Georgia and 9,123 deaths.
This week Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the state could get its first shipments of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines within the next 7-10 days. They are expected to be given emergency approval for distribution by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Several hundred thousand doses will be sent to Georgia initially, with long-term care home residents and health care workers the first to receive them.
The Georgia Department of Public Health has more information here about the COVID-19 vaccines.
Related content
- Cobb COVID deaths surpass 500; 110 reported in East Cobb
- East Cobb UMC offering drive-up daily COVID-19 testing
- Cobb public health director: Limit ‘non-essential’ activities
- Cobb schools report 434 new COVID cases since reopening
- Cobb school superintendent: ‘No metrics’ for COVID closures
- ARC: 13% of Cobb residents lost jobs/furloughed since COVID-19
- East Cobb resident serves “Lasagna Love” for COVID families
- Cases surge as East Cobb COVID numbers reach milestones
- East Cobb News Coronavirus Resource Page
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
