Metro Atlanta hospital reports decline in COVID-19 patients

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Northside Hospital Cherokee got some welcome news this week. For the first time in a long time, the number of COVID-19 patients being treated has dropped.

“It appears that we peaked out here at Cherokee on Monday the 17th, and we have seen a 10-11% drop since then,” Northside Hospital Cherokee COO Katie Pearson told Channel 2′s Tom Regan.

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The number of COVID-19 patients under their care is around 100, and far fewer are in need of supplemental oxygen as in past surges, like the Delta variant.

“We have as many ventilators as we need. Everything is a day-to-day process, but we are optimistic and hope this is an accurate trending of everything coming down,” said Pearson.

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Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta isn’t as fortunate. It is now 100% over capacity with near record 280 COVID-19 patients.

“The only good news I can say is we had fewer admissions yesterday of COVID patients, so I’m going to be hopeful that we have reached a peak and we are currently at a plateau stage. We are not going up but we have not started going down,” said Grady Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Jansen.

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Because of the Omicron surge, hospitals across the metro area are not allowing COVID-19 patients to receive visitors, but most officer other ways for family to spend time with patients.

“We have taken many steps to provide that connectivity to many families through the use of iPads, tablets, phones and other creative ways so they can communicate and have that support for one another,” said Pearson.

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