Cobb COVID community spread

Cobb COVID cases continue fall below ‘high community spread’

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Cobb COVID community spread
Source: Cobb GIS. For more Cobb COVID graphics and data, click here.

In recent weeks the community spread of COVID-19 in Cobb County has dropped well below a key barometer.

What public health officials call “high community spread” is a 14-day average of 100 confirmed cases per 100,000 people.

Cobb figures haven’t been below that threshold since late last summer, but as case rates plummet that line was crossed in mid-May (as indicated in dotted yellow line above). The Cobb GIS office compiled that data, and you can see more by clicking here.

At the end of last month, that number was 52. As of Friday, the 14-day average in Cobb was 39, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health, which posts a daily status report.

Similar trends are taking place across Georgia and the United States, as mask mandates and other restrictions are being lifted.

The drop in case rates from the start of the year was just as precipitous as its climb at the start of winter. The 14-day high of 980 was on Jan. 3, right as vaccines were being rolled out.

By the start of February, the 14-day average had dropped nearly in half, and by a similar rate by the end of the month, when that metric was 264.

Earlier this week, the Cobb County School District announced that masks will be optional for students and staff for summer school and the 2021-22 school year.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, there have been more than 61,000 confirmed cases in Cobb County, and 994 confirmed deaths, according to Cobb and Douglas Public Health.

In Georgia, there have been 897,240 cases during that time, and 18,144 deaths. Cobb’s death total is the third-highest in the state, behind Fulton (1,324) and Gwinnett (1,108).

The Cobb GIS update includes COVID-related hospitalization figures that also have fallen dramatically in recent months, from 1,139 in December to under 200 each in the months of March, April and May.

Vaccination rates in Cobb and Georgia continue to lag other states, but have been climbing steadily.

According to the Georgia DPH vaccination dashboard, 37 percent of Cobb citizens (275,884) are “fully vaccinated,” or have been given both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Another 326,617 Cobb residents have received the first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, representing 43 percent of the county population.

Across the state 41 percent of Georgians have received at least one dose and 34 percent are considered fully vaccinated.

Dr. Janet Memark, director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, is scheduled to provide her latest COVID-19 briefing to the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.

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Cobb COVID-19 community spread numbers reach highest levels

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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.

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