Cobb COVID deaths surpass 500 Archives

While the rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Georgia mounts, the number of deaths due to the virus in Cobb County has surpassed 500.

That’s according to the latest figures from Cobb and Douglas Public Health, which on Wednesday reported that there have been 501 deaths and 26,973 cases in Cobb County since March.

Of those, 110 deaths have come in East Cobb, which has 6,331 cumulative cases to date.

UPDATED: On 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.

A link to a hover map of the above ZIP code map can be found here; the data is updated through Wednesday.

The heaviest areas for cases and deaths in Cobb is in South Cobb and the Marietta ZIP Code of 30060, which has 1,941 cases and 55 deaths. In Powder Springs 30127, there have been 2,144 cases and 48 deaths.

Here’s how cases and deaths break down in East Cobb ZIP Codes:

30062: 1,875 cases; 28 deaths
30066: 1,706 cases; 27 deaths
30067: 1,611 cases; 20 deaths
30068: 931 cases; 33 deaths
30075: 208 cases; 2 deaths

Of the 110 deaths in East Cobb, 36 have been reported at long-term care facilities, according to the latest figures from the Georgia Department of Community Health.

Since we last took a deep look into those numbers in July, another 14 people have died in those facilities located in the ZIP Codes shown above.

Six of those new fatalities have been reported at the A.G. Rhodes home on Wylie Road and two at Manor Care on Johnson Ferry Place.

Cobb COVID deaths surpass 500

The ZIP Code data does not include age breakdowns. But as of Wednesday, as reflected in the pie chart above, Cobb and Douglas Public Health figures show that 72.4 percent of all Cobb COVID deaths are those age 70 and over; 87 percent are age 60 and older.

Nearly 42 percent of the deaths are among those who were age 80 or older.

By contrast, younger age groups make up the largest portion of confirmed COVID cases in Cobb County. Those ages 19-50 account for 58.8 percent of all cases, and the 18-60 age groups make up 72.9 percent of the cases.

More details about cases and deaths by race and sex can also be found here.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Daily COVID Status Report, 2,459 cases have been reported in Cobb County over the last two weeks.

More importantly, the level of community spread continues to rise, and for the first time this summer exceeds a 14-day average of 300 cases per 100,000 people. As of Thursday, that number is 311 (100 cases per 100,000 is considered “high” community spread).

That’s a metric that has been steadily going up over the fall, after dropping to just under 100 briefly after the start of the school year.

Georgia DPH breaks down several statistical categories by the date numbers are reported, and the date which a case or death was confirmed.

In Cobb, 322 cases were reported on Thursday. According to the “date of onset,” or the date a case is confirmed, Cobb has been reporting daily cases in excess of 200 in recent weeks.

On Nov. 30, for example, there were 2,939 cases confirmed on that date, close to the 2,988 figure reported on Nov. 16. The latter is the highest single-day date of onset case total in Cobb since August.

On Thursday, three more deaths were reported in Cobb; there are no deaths in the date of death figures, but that’s a preliminary figure that is likely to be updated.

As of Thursday, the 7-day moving average of deaths according to date of death in Cobb is 4.6, but that also is likely to be revised. As of Nov. 19, the last day before the current 14-day window, Cobb reported 21 deaths for a 7-day moving average of 20.4.

A total of 433,353 COVID cases have been confirmed in Georgia since March, along with 8,879 deaths.

On Thursday 4,419 new cases were reported, the highest single-day figure since July. Another 53 deaths were also reported, along with 245 new hospitalizations.

You can view those and other details at the Georgia DPH COVID Daily Status Report link; it is updated daily at 3 p.m.