Even with dip, infections surpass previous surges
The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Floyd County still remains extremely high, but it’s decreased slightly as the high virus transmission rate has begun to show a small decline.
Even with that decline, however, the number of new infections still remains above any other peak since the pandemic began.
The Floyd County Emergency Management Agency reported Thursday that 82 patients at Floyd Medical Center and 94 patients at Redmond Regional Medical Center were being treated for serious COVID-19 infections.
That’s down from over 200 a week ago.
With that small drop, there’s good and bad news.
There have been 33 deaths in the first 16 days of September, according to state COVID-19 records, making this the deadliest month for COVID-19 in 2021. But hospitals are reporting they’re not seeing as many new COVID-19 patients replacing those leaving.
In Region C, which includes Floyd County, hospitals are still over 90% capacity and ICU beds are over 100% capacity, according to Georgia Geospatial Information Office data. In the same region, just under 35% of patients being treated are COVID-19 patients.
As the surge from the highly infectious Delta variant shows the possibility that it may begin to abate or plateau, vaccinations have are slowly ticking up.
According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, 38% of Floyd County’s population is fully vaccinated against the virus and 43% of county residents have received their first dose. While it’s one of the highest vaccination rates in Northwest Georgia, it still lags behind the state and nation.
At this point, 46% of Georgians are fully vaccinated and 54.2% of the nation is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Public health and hospital officials have repeatedly urged people to get vaccinated.
“A lot of people indoors, primarily if they’re unvaccinated, are going to spread this contagious Delta variant,” said Dr. Gary Voccio, health director of the Georgia Public Health Northwest District, earlier this week.
“If you’re vaccinated it’s a lot safer, so get vaccinated,” he said.
“But if you’re unvaccinated with a lot of people indoors in the coolest months without a mask or physical distancing, you’re at high risk. You’re 10 times the risk, if you’ve not been vaccinated, from being hospitalized or dying.”
Long COVID
A study published this week in the CDC’S Morbidity and Mortality report has found that 1 in 3 people who survived COVID-19 suffer from long COVID, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday found that these long COVID patients reported at least one symptom of COVID-19 two months after first testing positive for the coronavirus.
The study found that 35% of survey responders reported at least one ongoing symptom of COVID-19 two months after the initial positive test.
The study’s results are limited by the relatively small number of people surveyed, 366 adults, and it wasn’t possible to attribute symptoms to COVID-19 versus those that existed before coronavirus infection. It’s also possible that people with long COVID symptoms were more likely to respond to the survey, according to the report, meaning the study might potentially overstate the problem.
“Further research, including research over longer periods, is warranted,” the study said.
Fatigue was reported by 17% of those long COVID patients; difficulty breathing and loss of taste or smell were reported by 13%; and muscle or joint pain was reported by 11%.
The study authors said the results are important to help experts “develop efforts to prioritize prevention and treatment strategies for” populations at higher risk of long COVID.