Dr. Janet Memark Archives

Cobb public health director masks vaccines — *Cobb COVID-19 cases by month, according to date of onset, per Georgia Department of Public Health.*

As the rate of COVID-19 cases rises around the country, thanks largely to what’s being called the Delta variant, the director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health said this week that citizens should take precautions.

Those including wearing masks when going out in public, including schools, and getting vaccinated if they haven’t already done so.

After dropping to pre-pandemic levels in June, the case rates have climbed back into what’s called the “high community spread” range, or a 14-day average of more than 100 cases per 100,000 people.

As of Friday, Cobb’s combined PCR and Antigen testing results showed that average to be 267 cases per 100,000.

You can check the Georgia Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Daily Status Report for more details.

On Thursday, Dr. Janet Memark, director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, sent out a message urging people in high transmission areas “to mask up while going out in public spaces.”

Those areas include Cobb and Douglas counties. At one point earlier this summer, Cobb’s test positivity rate was under two percent, with five percent being a threshold for concern. Now that figure is 8.4 percent.

She estimates that 80 percent of the virus that’s spreading around now is the Delta variant, which transmits at a faster rate than the main COVID-19 and is considered more contagious.

“It’s more deadly for people who are unvaccinated,” Memark said. “If you keep letting the virus circulate, to reproduce, it is going to find a way to beat us.”

She said Delta has made “some progress” against the vaccine, meaning that some fully vaccinated people can still get a positive test and have mild symptoms.

“But your chances of dying or being hospitalized are extremely rare, if you are vaccinated,” Memark said in a video produced by Cobb County government (you can watch it all below).

Of those “breakthrough” cases, Memark said it’s not true that the vaccines don’t work. Instead, they are reducing severe illness and symptoms.

Memark also said that COVID-19 hospitalizations in Cobb are up 300 percent from a few weeks ago, and many of them are younger patients, in their 30s-50s, who are not vaccinated.

Memark’s message comes as the Cobb County School District begins a new academic year on Monday. Earlier this week, the district reiterated it would follow a masks-optional policy for students, teachers and staff.

The district had a mask mandate for the 2020-21 school year but announced plans in May to drop that requirement. Cobb schools were sued by parents for the mandate, and that legal action was later dropped.

Gwinnett schools switched to a mask mandate this week following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control recommending mask-wearing at schools. In her messages this week, Memark urged parents to follow the new recommendations, which she admitted have been confusing.

“These recommendations were meant to try to keep as many children in school as possible to allow them to keep learning,” said Memark in a CDPH newsletter this week. “Because so many children have not or cannot get vaccinated, masking is one of the only prevention tools we have to decrease spread.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said last week he would not order new restrictions, including a mask mandate, something he has been unwilling to do during the pandemic.

Some cities in Georgia have reimposed previous mask mandates, including the city of Atlanta. Cobb County has never done that, except in government facilities, with former chairman Mike Boyce saying last July it would impose an unfair enforcement burden on public safety personnel.

When East Cobb News asked if Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid may be considering a mask mandate, county spokesman Ross Cavitt said Thursday “not at this time.”

Cobb and Douglas Public Health is offering free Pfizer vaccines to the public (ages 12 and older) at its various centers and at selected other pop-up locations, either by appointment or via walk-up. For more information, click here.

“Please safely enjoy the last weekend before school starts,” Memark said. “Remember that we are not done with this pandemic yet. It is not too late to get your vaccine.”

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*Dr. Janet Memark, director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health*

As the number of COVID-19 cases in the Cobb County School District surged past 1,000 since July, the director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health sent a message to parents urging them to continue to take precautions to slow the spread of the virus.

Cobb County set a single-day record for reported new COVID-19 cases with 375 on Thursday, and on Friday the Cobb school district reported 250 new cases over the last week.

In a letter that went out Thursday, Dr. Janet Memark said that she has “seen little in-school transmission, but we do see weekly increases in the number of cases coming back positive in the school system from out of the school.”

The full letter can be seen at the bottom of this post.

Those 250 new cases were reported in 81 schools, and according to the district’s weekly update, all of the schools reported 10 or fewer cases. All of the 16 traditional high schools in the Cobb school district reported cases this week.

Since July, there have been 1,212 cases in the district confirmed by Cobb and Douglas Public Health. The Cobb school district does not break down the totals between students and staff, nor do the figures indicate how many individuals may be in quarantine due to possible exposure to the virus.

The district also has said it has not closed any classes or schools since students began returning to campus in October.

In her letter—a similar version was also sent to Marietta City Schools parents this week—Memark said the rising cases are causing hospitalizations and ICU bed occupancy to be near capacity, although she did not provide numbers.

She said that more cases are coming into the schools via slumber parties, athletic teams, holiday parties and social gatherings. In addition to wearing masks and practicing social distancing Memark asked parents in the letter “to try to limit the amount of time that your family members have had with those outside of your immediate families. The case rate is too high to let our guard down.”

The fall semester ends next Friday; the spring semester starts Jan. 6, and the Cobb school district said Thursday that 54 percent of current students have chosen the face-to-face option.

There also will be another sign-up window over the winter for the spring semester.

In East Cobb, the following schools reported confirmed COVID-19 cases this week:

Elementary schools: Bells Ferry; Blackwell; Brumby; Davis; East Side; Garrison Mill; Keheley; Kincaid; Mt. Bethel; Mountain View; Murdock; Powers Ferry; Rocky Mount; Shallowford Falls; Sope Creek; Timber Ridge; Tritt
Middle schools: Daniell; Dickerson; Dodgen; East Cobb; Mabry; McCleskey; Simpson
High schools: Kell; Lassiter; Pope; Sprayberry; Walton; Wheeler