Cobb and Douglas Public Health

Jim Miller Park COVID-19 vaccines cancelled due to shortages

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Jim Miller Park COVID vaccine appointments

Cobb and Douglas Public Health on Friday cancelled all scheduled COVID-19 vaccine appointments at Jim Miller Park for Saturday and Monday because of more supply shortages.

Crippling winter weather elsewhere has interrupted the supply chain of vaccine shipments, according to the agency, which indicated it was already running out of vaccine doses on hand before the week was out.

“Please be assured that you will be first in line for vaccination appointments next week when we receive vaccine. We will communicate by email, text or phone to reschedule,” the Cobb and Douglas Public Health message states.

For the last three weeks Cobb and Douglas Public Health has not been accepting new appointments for its drive-up venues at Jim Miller Park and Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville.

In Cobb, only a few hundred vaccine doses were available to distribute per day.

Cobb and Douglas Public Health Director Dr. Janet Memark has said that sufficient vaccine supplies may not be available until March or April.

Until then, only people with previously booked appointments will be able to get vaccines.

She’s scheduled to brief the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night with more updated information.

Cobb and Douglas Public Health is resuming COVID-19 testing at Jim Miller Park starting Monday. You must pre-register online by clicking here. The test is free (your insurance will be billed), and once you sign up, you can come by at your convenience from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday.

If you don’t have access to a computer, smartphone, or internet, you can call 844-625-6522, then press 1 and ask for registration help.

Those individuals eligible in the A+1 category to receive vaccines have been struggling to find any place to book an appointment.

The state of Georgia gets close to 200,000 vaccine doses a week from the federal government, but it’s not coming close to filling the demand.

The Georgia Department of Public Health recently unveiled a new vaccine dashboard that shows that more than 1.6 million vaccines have been administered in the state. Of that total, 1.1 million are first doses.

In Cobb County, more than 110,00 vaccine doses have been administered, with 71,000 of those being first doses. An average of just under 15,000 vaccines a week have been given per 100,000 people in Cobb, according to the dashboard.

Those figures include vaccines provided by public health agencies as well as private providers, including physicians and at pharmacies.

Georgia DPH has created a vaccine locator service indicating where vaccine supplies are available.

However, many of those locations say they are out of vaccines, or all available appointments have been booked.

Like other states, Georgia is working to secure more supplies of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that became available in January.

Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday that the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security agencies will open four mass COVID-19 vaccination sites in underserved areas of the state, starting on Monday.

They are near the Atlanta airport, as well as in Albany, Clarkesville and Macon, and will be offering drive-up vaccinations Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They will be able to distribute more than 20,000 vaccines per day combined.

Appointments will be necessary and are available to people categorized as A+1 under the state’s tiered priority list. That includes seniors 65 and older and their caregivers, long-term care residents, health care workers and first responders.

The state has created a new website, MyVaccineGeorgia.com, for booking appointments and for related information about vaccine appointments.

Those who aren’t yet eligible also can sign up at that site and receive updates.

The new mass vaccination sites are open to any legal residents of Georgia, but they must book an appointment at the link above and fall into the A+1 category:

  • Delta Air Museum, 1220 Woolman Place, Hapeville
  • Albany Forestry site, 2910 Newton Road, Albany
  • Habersham County Fairgrounds, 4235 Toccoa Highway, Clarkesville
  • Macon Farmers Market, 2055 Eisenhower Parkway, Macon

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Updated 6.8.20: Mapping Cobb COVID-19 cases by ZIP Code

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Cobb Covid Zip Code Map

Here are the latest figures in our periodical update breaking down COVID-19 cases in Cobb County, and specifically in map form by ZIP Code, per Cobb and Douglas Public Health.

The first figure after the ZIP code is the number of cases as of Sunday, and the numbers you see in parenthesis are from updates on May 7 and May 28, respectively

  • 30067: 174 (150, 93)
  • 30062: 172 (160,113)
  • 30066: 140 (126, 95)
  • 30068: 109 (98, 68)
  • 30075: 13 (14, 11)

The highest number of cases in Cobb continues to be Marietta 30060, which is reporting 400 as of Sunday. There are 301 cases in 30127, in the Powder Springs area, and 296 in Marietta 30008, southwest of the city.

As we noted in previous mapping posts (here and here), none of those figures, which come from the Georgia Department of Public Health, State Electronic Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (SENDSS), include the number of deaths by ZIP Code.

You can hover over that map, which is regularly updated, by clicking here.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, there were 3,298 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cobb County, with 196 deaths and 718 hospitalizations.

The case total is fourth-highest in the state and the death total trails only the 256 deaths that have been reported in Fulton County.

Across Georgia there have been 52,497 confirmed cases, 2,208 deaths and 8,746 hospitalizations.

The Georgia Department of Public Health updates those figures once a day at 3 p.m.

A total of 544,372 viral tests have been conducted in the state, and another 105,013 antibody tests. DPH had come under scrutiny for combining both of those figures but in recent weeks has begun reporting them in separate columns.

The number of positive viral tests is 47,493, or 8.7 percent of those tested.

The state data also breaks down cases and deaths by race, sex and ethnicity.

For more data from Cobb and Douglas Public Health, click here.

Cobb government has a COVID-19 dashboard using data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

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As Cobb Coronavirus cases surpass 1,000, testing accelerates

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Cobb Coronavirus testing
A hopeful sign on Holly Springs Road, near the Davis Road roundabout. (ECN photo)

A total of 1,014 Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Cobb County, as of 7 p.m. Thursday.

The Georgia Department of Public Health is also reporting that 49 people have died from COVID-19 in the county.

UPDATED for those seeing this in the Sunday newsletter: As of 7 p.m. Saturday the number of cases stands at 1,104 in Cobb County, with 51 deaths.

(The Georgia DPH daily status report is updated at 12 and 7 p.m.)

Those figures are among the highest in the state of Georgia, and according to Dr. Janet Memark, Director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, Cobb is likely a couple weeks away from reaching its peak.

The reference was to hospital capacity, which she said is escalating but has not yet topped out.

In a videotaped message at Jim Miller Park that was released by the county Thursday afternoon, Memark also said the public can now without needing a doctor’s reference.

That had been the case until earlier this week, when expanded criteria also was contingent on a medical referral.

She said anyone with symptoms for COVID-19—such as a shortness of breath, fever or dry coughing—can call Cobb and Douglas Public Health or go to its website “and you can get an appointment very quickly.”

Jim Miller Park had been designated as one of several drive-up testing centers around the state, but has only been able to do around 50 tests a day.

Memark previously told the Cobb Board of Commissioners that patients with medical referrals, health care workers and first responders had been the first priorities.

Those scheduled to be tested came in during a short window of operations. Memark said testing hours have been expanded at Jim Miller Park and Hunter Park in Douglasville, and soon will have the capability to test 100 people an hour.

(Here’s the detailed criteria to get tested)

Testing will be available Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

In addition, people can call the Cobb and Douglas Public Health call center at 770-514-2300 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday to schedule an appointment.

You can also click here for an appointment.

For a larger view of this map, click here. Source: Cobb County COVID-19 Resource Page.

According to Georgia DPH, more than 16,000 cases have been confirmed in Georgia, with 617 deaths as of Thursday evening.

“Testing is extremely important,” Memark said, especially lieu of a vaccine (not likely to be ready for another 12-18 months).

With more widespread testing, “we can have a better idea how it’s affecting our community.” Those testing results will help public health officials better determine how the virus is spreading, Memark said, “and when we talk about reopening we need this kind of information going forward.”

Georgia’s shelter-in-place order has been extended to April 30, and a public health emergency has been declared through May 13.

Memark said the number of cases in Cobb is rising at lower rates than a few weeks ago, an indication, she said “that social distancing is working, and we’re very happy about that.”

Georgia National Guard troops also have been called to Jim Miller Park as the testing procedures expand.

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Cobb public health to offer limited Coronavirus testing

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Cobb coronavirus statement

The top Cobb public health official reiterated Monday that her agency is not testing the general public for Coronavirus.

At a special Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting Monday, Dr. Janet Memark said Cobb and Douglas Public Health is planning a drive-through testing facility at Jim Miller Park for high-risk individuals only.

She said those people would be, in addition to those in vulnerable groups (the elderly and sick), health care providers, teachers, those working in senior living facilities and first responders.

Those individuals were pre-approved for testing because of their high-risk status and after being referred by a physician.

The number of those being tested is not known at this time.

From a CDPH statement issued Monday night:

If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (e.g., fever, cough, shortness of breath) or have been directly exposed to a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, please isolate at home. If your condition worsens, call your primary care doctor, an urgent care clinic, your local federally qualified healthcare center or in extreme cases, call 911. Please do not show up unannounced at an emergency room or health care facility.

The State of Georgia also has a new COVID-19 hotline for more information. The hotline number is (844) 442-2681.

Health care providers are asked to report the disease to 1-866-PUB-HLTH (1-866-782-4584) and ask for a medical epidemiologist.

Memark said the drive-through testing plans are being finalized this week.

 

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The Wing Cafe gets perfect score after failing health inspection

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The Wing Cafe, East Cobb restaurant inspections

A couple of weeks after failing a health inspection, a longtime East Cobb restaurant and bar got a perfect score in a follow-up visit from Cobb and Douglas Public Health.

The Wing Cafe and Tap House (2145 Roswell Road, in the East Lake shopping center) got a 100 score during an inspection last Friday. Management posted the new report in a front window (above) and on the establishment’s Facebook page, with the following message:

“Please accept our apologies for anything that may have wavered your trust in us! We look forward to seeing you all back here soon! Thank you to all of our patrons who stuck with us during this trying time! We appreciate all of our loyal customers!”

On July 21, an inspection at The Wing Cafe resulted a score of 62 with six violations, including employees failing to wash hands, improper temperatures for food storage and a moldy ice machine.

Formerly known as the Wild Wing Cafe, The Wing Cafe marked its 22nd anniversary earlier this summer.