Polk, NW Ga. see sharp increase in COVID cases
Public health officials released a warning last Thursday that the Northwest Georgia community is moving in the wrong direction to contain the new coronavirus as the state saw daily records set for new confirmed cases.
Polk County itself saw an increase of 21 residents who tested positive for COVID-19 in the span of seven days that ended Friday, July 3. Of those, 15 were reported by the state Department of Public Health on Friday alone.
The county ended the week just before the July 4th holiday with one more hospitalization, bringing the total to 16, while the total number of deaths related to the virus stayed at one despite a report last week that a second Polk resident had died of complications from COVID-19.
The death was first made public as part of the Georgia Department of Public Health’s daily COVID-19 status report on Tuesday, June 30. The person was an 83-year-old woman who suffered from previous chronic illness according to information on the DPH website.
However, the group later revised its initial report. The DPH has previously revised its information and statistics as more investigation into cases of COVID-19 is completed. The exact cause of the revision has not been confirmed by public health officials.
In this instance, it could have been determined the person originally listed as living in Polk County had actually lived in another county.
Still, Logan Boss, Northwest Georgia public health district spokesman, said the woman’s age and pre-existing health conditions are reasons why people should still be cautious when in public or around the most susceptible members of the population.
“There’s a lot we still don’t know about this virus. What we do know is there are risks of severe complications from it — including death — that increase with age and, more significantly, when you start adding underlying health conditions,” Boss said. “And this is another reason why we ask the public to take safety precautions to protect not just ourselves but folks like this who have a higher risk of dying from it.”
A 67-year-old Rockmart man was the first Polk County resident to die from complications of COVID-19 on May 8. It took nearly three weeks for his death to officially be reported by the DPH because of the steps required by the organization to properly identify the cause of death.
Meanwhile, a statement on COVID-19 from Dr. Gary Voccio, health director for the ten-county Georgia Department of Public Health Northwest Health District, was released Thursday afternoon giving more details into the state of the new coronavirus in the area.
In it he states that the district had seen a 21% increase in confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the two weeks prior to the release. The Northwest Health District consists of the counties of Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Haralson, Paulding, Polk and Walker.
Statewide, he noted the seven-day average number of cases has more than doubled in the past two weeks, from an average of 1,000 daily cases in mid-June to 2,000 daily cases at the end of June.
“At this time, we have not seen a corresponding increase in hospitalizations or deaths, but these events can take a few weeks longer to occur after infections increase,” Voccio stated. “We do not want to overwhelm our emergency rooms or hospitals with COVID-19 patients. If this happens, they would not be able to care for people with other acute illnesses.”
Georgia Public Health officials reported 3,472 new cases of coronavirus last Thursday, breaking the record of daily reported infections set the day before of 2,946 cases. The grim new figures came as many medical providers urged Gov. Brian
Kemp to require people to wear masks in public places to prevent transmission of the virus.
Kemp has resisted that call, saying the issue is overpoliticized. Kemp has launched a “wear a mask’’ tour of Georgia cities, accompanied by the state’s Public Health commissioner, Dr. Kathleen Toomey, and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams.
Voccio noted that the increase in cases in Georgia is happening largely among younger people with 22% of all current cases among people ages 18-29.
“Because infections can spread from this predominantly younger group to older community members and people with underlying health conditions, we are closely tracking the healthcare system for increases in hospitalizations,” Voccio stated.
“The recent increase in COVID-19 cases is very concerning. Increasing cases and risk for acquiring COVID-19 in our community threatens the hard-earned progress we made during the stayat-home order. This virus is very contagious, and we need to be vigilant – the risk from COVID-19 remains serious.”
Voccio said long-term preventive measures should be practiced, such as safe physical distancing and wearing a face mask when in public, frequent hand washing and disinfecting of high-touch surfaces.
The Polk County Health Department, located at 125 E Ware St. in Cedartown, continues to offer free drive-up COVID-19 testing from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays, and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
Anyone wanting to be tested should go to the health department, remain in their vehicle, call 770-749-2270 and say they want to be tested for COVID-19. A nurse will come to the vehicle, obtain contact information and collect the specimen needed for testing. Test results will be reported as soon as available.