As COVID continues, the next worry is strained healthcare resources
As new COVID-19 infections shattered previous records in Georgia during the past week, the virus appears to once again put a strain on healthcare resources locally and across the state.
The real question when it comes to COVID-19 infections is the ability to treat people who have a serious infection. While many people who are infected have no symptoms or very mild symptoms, an infection in others — especially those with pre-existing health conditions — could lead to death.
The importance of having available hospital resources to treat those badly affected by the virus has been a concern.
Looking at the state as a whole, over 80% of ICU and emergency department beds are spoken for, according to Georgia Geospatial Information Office statistics.
Locally in Region C, which includes Floyd County, the percentage of beds in ICU and emergency departments are somewhat higher. As of Friday, ICU beds are listed at 82% capacity and emergency department beds are listed at just under 96% capacity.
Compared to the end of November the number of patients filling emergency department beds have doubled. The data for ICU beds is more flat, with only minor increases since the mid-tolate December.
The percentage of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals remains higher statewide at 17% of the patient census, while Region C is just over 12% of the patient census. But those numbers have followed increased infection rates and doubled since Dec. 25 from 73 patients to 130 patients with COVID-19.
Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday the state will spend $100 million to fund up to 1,000 additional health-care workers in order to assist hospitals with the expected patient overload.
Up to 200 Georgia National Guard troops also will be deployed beginning Jan. 3, Kemp said this week. Half of those 200 will be sent to hospitals, while 96 will be assigned to help staff testing sites across the state operated by the Georgia Department of Public Health.
RECORD BREAKING NUMBERS OF INFECTIONS
The number of reported coronavirus infections in the United States has reached a new high, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week, recording an average of 316,000 infections every day for the past seven days.
That trumps the COVID-19 wave of the same time last year, which was approximately 250,000 new cases reported per day, according to the CDC.
Locally, the numbers of new infections have quadrupled over the past two weeks. Also, that number is likely underreported with a scarcity of tests compared with recent demand.
Public health officials have attributed the rise in cases to the extremely contagious omicron variant of the virus. However, the delta variant continues to exist and remains the dominant variant in several portions of the country. It’s not clear at this point which variant is to blame locally.
Another concern is how the disease caused by the coronavirus will affect vulnerable populations as well as the unvaccinated.
“Our COVID vaccines are safe and effective and can prevent severe illness and death from COVID,” Kathleen E. Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, said in mid-December. “If you are someone who wanted to ‘wait and see’ about the vaccine, please don’t wait any longer. As long as people are not vaccinated, COVID will continue to spread, and variants will continue to emerge.”
However, vaccination campaigns in Northwest Georgia and the state as a whole have only produced mediocre results.
According to CDC data, 62% of the approximately 330 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated. Only a third of the population also received a booster vaccination. In Georgia, 53% of the population is fully vaccinated, with 30% having received a booster dose.
In Floyd County, 43% of the population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and of that number 32% have received a booster shot. That’s slightly higher than other counties in the region, like Bartow, Chattooga, Gordon and Polk, which have yet to or barely broken the 40% vaccination threshold.