Fall has arrived bringing flu season with it and as was predicted by health experts, another increase in coronavirus cases is happening nationwide. Georgia is no exception to the national trend.
The Georgia Department of Public Health released new information on the track of coronavirus in Georgia this week, here are a few of the findings from their report.
COVID-19 cases are up: Perhaps it is the fact that temperatures are down, perhaps it is people letting their guard down, but cases of COVID-19 are up in Georgia. According to the Department of Public Health, the seven day average of new cases has gone up 3.4% in the last week. As of Oct. 5, there have been 323,714 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Georgia.
That’s still less than in July: The department of public health also points out that despite the increase, Georgia is still well below its peak for new cases on July 24. New cases are down 67% from that date.
The Positivity Rate is also up: The positivity rate is the percentage of COVID-19 tests that come back positive. That number has increased, too. The positivity rate was 6.3% last week. This week it is 7%.
Hospitalizations are down: Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 are down, but those usually increase within two weeks of the number of cases increasing, since people rarely experience severe symptoms when they first test positive for COVID-19. Daily hospitalizations are at 1,271 today, down from 1,317 daily hospitalizations last week. That is a decrease of 3.5%. That number is down 60% since the daily high of 3,200 back on July 30.
There have been 70 outbreaks in the last week: In the past week there have been 70 new COVID-19 outbreaks in Georgia. According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, these outbreaks are occurring in settings where people are physically congregating and underscore the need for physical distancing and source control.
Schools lead the pack in outbreaks: In the last week, the highest number of outbreaks were reported at schools. There were 17 reported last week, down 11 from the previous week. There have been a total of 330 outbreaks in schools. Next up is nursing homes and long-term care facilities. There were 11 outbreaks last week in those facilities, down by six the week before. There have been a total of 750 outbreaks in long-term care facilities.
Workplaces are also hotbeds for coronavirus outbreaks. There were 10 outbreaks last week at workplaces, down by 8 the week before. There have been 226 outbreaks at workplaces.
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