The number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in Georgia continues to rise dramatically. As of noon Tuesday, there were 1,026 positive test results across the state, after more than 800 were reported Monday night.
According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, the death toll also has risen, to 32 on Tuesday, up from 25 on Monday.
Cobb County had 86 confirmed Coronavirus cases as of noon Tuesday, and at least five deaths.
The latter figure is according to Dr. Janet Memark, director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, in a briefing before Cobb commissioners Tuesday morning.
They held a special meeting to discuss a state of emergency declaration. Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has drafted an order that he was expected to formalize Tuesday afternoon.
Boyce didn’t need to get a vote from his colleagues, but wanted them to have a public discussion of the matter.
Memark is calling on Boyce to issue a shelter-in-place order that’s similar to what is in effect in the city of Atlanta.
Under shelter-in-place, most businesses would close, except those deemed essential, and citizens would be ordered to stay at home, except to shop for necessities.
On Monday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued a shelter-in-place for certain at-risk populations and ordered bars and nightclubs closed. But he declined to issue a broader shelter-in-place statewide.
Boyce’s draft order was distributed to commissioners before Tuesday’s meeting but was not made public beforehand.
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Memark said the health care system in Cobb could be overrun soon if more aggressive social distancing measures are not undertaken.
She said testing for the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is not a short-term solution because of a limited supply of test kits and because the virus is spreading so fast.
Test results are typically returned in 3-7 days, she said.
“We are on the upswing of cases and just below our capacity for health care this time,” she told commissioners.
She said there are fewer than 50 ventilators at the two full-service hospitals in Cobb County.
More than anything, she said, social distancing measures need to be followed to stop the spread of the virus.
After noting that many people were out over the weekend in large gathering spots, at parks, restaurants and other places, Memark said that “the message isn’t getting out strongly enough.”
Until Tuesday’s new figures, Cobb had the second-highest number of cases in Georgia. Fulton leads with 184, followed by DeKalb with 94, Dougherty with 90, then Cobb.
Dr. Danny Branstetter, director of infection prevention at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, told commissioners—who were seated spaced apart at distances recommended in social distancing guidelines—that a shelter-in-place order “will buy us time” and help preserve health-care capacity.
Boyce, who on Friday said he didn’t want to close businesses, said “this is a tough call” but that the measures that have been followed thus far are “not working. We’ve got to give serious consideration to something like shelter-in-place.”
He had the general support of most of his colleagues, including South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, who listened in and participated in the meeting via teleconference from her home. She said it was important for the board “to set an example for our community.”
But commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb warned that by “narrowing the window” for citizens to get out and do essential things, like food shopping, “you bring more people together.”
“Government cannot do everything,” Ott said. “At some point in time, people have to take personal responsibility. A shelter-in-place in a county with 760,000 people is not enforceable.”
Boyce was clear that his order will not include a curfew, as has been ordered in other states and locales.
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