The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Cobb County has risen 600 percent over the last six weeks as community transmission grows well above the high spread category, the director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health said Tuesday.
Dr. Janet Memark said in a briefing to the Cobb Board of Commissioners that more than 90 percent of those hospitalized have not been vaccinated, and repeated messaging from the Centers for Disease Control that “this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Memark did not disclose the number of people hospitalized to commissioners, and said that in Cobb there a severe shortage of emergency and critical care beds.
A Cobb and Douglas Public Health spokeswoman told East Cobb News that currently there are 151 COVID patients admitted currently in Wellstar Kennestone Hospital and Wellstar Windy Hill Hospital, and 120 more people who are under investigation for having contracted the virus.
Most of the cases now are part of the Delta variant, which is considered more transmissable that the original strain of COVID-19. Memark said the Delta variant is spreading so fast that anyone feeling symptoms should get tested immediately.
In Cobb County, the 14-day average of combined PCR and Antigen cases per 100,000 people is 446 (100 cases per 100,000 is considered high community spread). In addition, the test positivity rate is 12.2 percent (anything more than 5 percent is also considered high).
Across Georgia, Memark said, the 14-day average is 587 cases per 100,000, a figure she said has shot up 168 percent in the last 10 days.
Also statewide, Memark said there’s been a 60-percent jump in cases involving children between ages 5-17 in the past week, and an 82-percent increase for children from 0-4.
She reiterated CDC guidance from late July recommending indoor mask usage everywhere, including schools.
Memark didn’t mention that that guidance is not being followed by the Cobb County School District and Marietta City Schools, the only school districts in metro Atlanta that have masks-optional policies.
Cobb revised its protocols last week to “strongly encourage” mask use, and requires masks for 10 days for asymptomatic people who have been allowed to return to school after being exposed to the virus.
“We are at high spread, but we have brought this down before,” Memark said.
She also urged vaccinations for eligible individuals (ages 12 and older) who have not received them. Currently 48 percent of Cobb residents are fully vaccinated, and 41 percent have received at least one dose.
That’s better than most of the rest of the state, but Georgia lags nationally
For information on vaccines, testing and other COVID information visit www.cobbanddouglaspublichealth.com.
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- Georgia COVID state of emergency expires July 1
- Cobb issues COVID scam alert for federal relief funds
- Cobb COVID cases continue fall below “high community spread”
- Cobb COVID update: “We’re on the right track”
- Health director: 21 percent of Cobb citizens vaccinated
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- East Cobb News COVID information and resource page
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