COVID-19 hospital cases soar in Floyd County
♦ New virus cases rival the summer surge, with 219 reported in the past week.
COVID-19 hospitalization numbers soared in Floyd County on Thursday to 70 patients, rivaling the summer surge in cases that took place in August and early September.
During the same time last week, there were just over 40 COVID- 19 positive patients being treated in Floyd County hospitals. While those patients aren’t necessarily from this area, there may be Floyd County residents being treated elsewhere.
Alongside that, the number of infections has continued to rise in Floyd County — following a trend in Georgia and nationwide.
Floyd County has had 473 new confirmed cases in the past two weeks — with 38 cases reported on Thursday and 219 new cases reported during the past week.
Public health officials listed 39 high transmission counties in a weekly report. Among those are a group of counties in Northwest Georgia including Rome, Calhoun, Cedartown, Carrollton, Cartersville and Dalton.
Of the state’s 159 counties, 126 counties recorded more than 100 cases per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days — the state’s listed high transmission indicator.
The number of cases could potentially be much higher since Georgia, unlike many states, does not include results of rapid tests.
The Associated Press reported that if those rapid tests were included, the number of confirmed and probable cases would be 18% higher in the week that ended Friday compared to the week before.
Georgia Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey said earlier this month that the state is planning to include positive rapid antigen tests in its daily report, but has not yet done so. Many other states count those tests no differently than genetic tests, but Georgia officials said they’re worried about the higher rate of false results on the antigen tests.
Despite those concerns, the state publishes antigen numbers in once- weekly county- level reports that are issued on Mondays. Department of Public Health spokesperson Nancy Nydam wrote Monday in an email that “we continue to work toward posting the antigen tests on the DPH dashboard,” but gave no further explanation about why the move hasn’t taken place yet.
Georgia still remains far off its July peaks, when it was averaging 3,700 cases per day — the worst in the nation at the time.
Because the respiratory illness is now spreading so rapidly in other regions, Georgia ranks only 34th among the states, according to numbers tracked by The Associated Press. Many more cases, per capita, are being recorded in some Midwestern and Western states.
But even just counting genetic tests, the rise in cases in Georgia is increasingly clear. The state’s seven-day daily average of positive tests is up 30% since hitting a low on Oct. 8, according to AP numbers. The seven-day average of hospitalizations is up 7% since hitting a low on Oct. 12.
Deaths, which usually lag behind hospitalizations, have mounted more slowly in recent days.
As of Thursday, 60 Floyd County residents have died from COVID-19. In the immediate area, Floyd, Bartow, Polk, Gordon, and Chattooga counties have seen a total of 259 deaths from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Georgia has recorded 7,923 confirmed deaths from COVID- 19 and more than 356,848 cases confirmed through genetic tests.
While most people who contract the coronavirus recover after suffering only mild to moderate symptoms, it can be deadly for older patients and those with other health problems.