State reenters red zone as holiday gatherings near

Georgia is back in the coronavirus red zone — the category for states with the most severe spread of the virus. The seven-day rolling average of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Georgia has climbed about 45% since bottoming out Oct. 2, and the number of hospitalizations has started to climb after weeks of decreasing, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of state data shows.

Citing the increase in cases, President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force moved the state back into the red zone for the first time since mid-September. The task force report warned of asymptomatic spread, particularly at social gatherings, as cool weather pushes people indoors, and friends and families plan holiday events.

Forty-two states are now in the COVID-19 red zone as the virus surges to new daily case highs and hospitalizations and deaths rise across the nation.

Georgia ranked 40th in the U.S. for new cases per 100,000 people and 30th for test positivity.

The current rate of spread in the state is not as severe as the outbreaks seen in border states and in the Upper Midwest and Northwest. But public health experts fear Georgia might not be far behind.

Meanwhile, the executive associate dean of Emory School of Medicine, Dr. Carlos del Rio, called for a statewide mask mandate and condemned a dangerous “leadership vacuum” as the pandemic surges. He called for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts to fill the gap, and for government and community leaders to “speak with one voice.”

“We are in a very difficult point in the pandemic in our country,” said del Rio, who would like to see mask mandates across the country. “There’s nobody at any high level really talking about this, providing guidance, saying what to do. That leadership vacuum is really, simply allowing the pandemic to progress without anybody taking charge.”

Here’s a look at other major developments over the past week.