The Georgia Department of Public Health has posted an unenviable statistic.
The state has now recorded more than 1 million cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak began.
Deaths are also rising and now approach 20,000. Georgia joins at least 10 other states that have a million or more cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to report most new cases nationwide are caused by the delta variant.
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Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, said during a Monday press conference with Gov. Brian Kemp that about 90% of current cases in the state are caused by the delta variant.
“This variant is much more transmissible,” she said. “It goes more quickly from person-to-person. It causes you to become infected much more quickly. The good news is the vaccines do work. They are protecting people from the consequences of a more dangerous virus.”
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Toomey said more cases are being diagnosed among much younger individuals. More of those younger patients are also requiring hospitalization. She said getting tested is important, and the state health department is ramping up testing opportunities at local health departments around the state.
The Georgia Coordinating Center tracks how busy hospitals are statewide. Emergency departments at Augusta University Medical Center and Doctors Hospital are listed as severely overcrowded. University Hospital is classified as busy.
Updates are available at this website.
Kemp said it is important that unvaccinated Georgians talk with someone they trust, get the facts and consider getting vaccinated.
“This safe and effective vaccine will reduce the likelihood you will get infected with COVID-19. But more importantly, it drastically will reduce the chances of you ending up in a hospital bed or losing your life,” he said.
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Kemp said hospital leaders in Atlanta told him during a recent conference call that well over 90% of those hospitalized with the virus were unvaccinated.
In South Carolina, which reached more than 500,000 cases in late July, the Department of Health and Environmental Control reports more than 90% of COVID-19 cases and deaths are among people who are not fully vaccinated.
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“Obviously, we are seeing an increase in breakthrough cases, hospitalizations and deaths for the month of July,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, public health director. “The rise of highly transmissible variants like delta and lagging vaccination rates have led to increases in these categories overall, including breakthrough cases. But it is important to note that cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among fully-vaccinated residents are still rare. And in most situations of breakthrough cases, the person has no symptoms or very mild ones that clear up in a matter of days.”
DHEC will continue releasing this provisional data every two weeks and can be found here. Additionally, DHEC is now tracking breakthrough cases on its website. That page can be found here.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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