Experts say they’re concerned about rising COVID-19 cases across Georgia.
On Friday, the Georgia Department of Health reported the state’s total case count at 370,106, a nearly 1,800 case increase over Thursday.
“Our case rate is climbing across all different county types,” said Dr. Amber Schmidtke, a microbiologist who keeps close tabs on Georgia’s pandemic. “It’s not just pockets of rural Georgia or pockets of metro Atlanta. It’s across the state.”
Schmidtke told Channel 2′s Mike Petchenik the numbers we’re seeing now are heading in the direction of the case counts we experienced during the summer surge.
“What that means is this is just the beginning of this increase. If it becomes exponential growth, if it becomes a surge, we’re going to go very, very high,” she said.
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Schmidtke said hospitalizations and deaths are currently stable, but she worries if we don’t stop the spread now heading into the winter, those numbers could increase sharply.
“There’s a lot of momentum for the virus right now but we have it in our power to limit how high that peak that will go,” she said.
She also said testing has remained flat, but the positivity rate has gone up and she believes that’s a sign we’re not accounting for all cases.
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As we head into the holidays Schmidtke warned that people can’t be complacent.
“I would advise caution as we approach the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays,” she said. “We have to be creative about the ways we’re connecting with people we love during this pandemic but doing so in a way that keeps everybody safe. The virus only cares about getting to its next patient. It does not care if you love or trust that person. We can all love and trust that person very much and give someone a deadly illness.”
Petchenik spoke to a woman who stopped by a drive-through testing facility in Alpharetta Friday about the spike in cases.
“I’ve been real sick from the throat lately. It’s been like three days,” Valerie Fonseca told Petchenik. “I’m not sure if I have it but I came here to get tested.”
Fonseca said she let her guard down and believes other people are, too.
“I don’t think nobody has been taking it as serious as they should,” she said. “I didn’t take it seriously.”
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Meantime, Friday Grady Health system confirmed a COVID-19 outbreak at one of its facilities, Crestview Health and Rehabilitation Center in Southwest Atlanta:
“We conduct weekly COVID-19 testing of our residents at Crestview. As a result of this testing, we found 25 residents located on one unit at Crestview that were asymptomatic but tested positive. As a precautionary measure, these residents were transported to Grady yesterday. All staff and residents at Crestview continue to be tested on a weekly basis and monitored for any signs of infection.”
Also Friday, Forsyth County’s superintendent sent a letter home to parents imploring them to talk to their children about COVID-19 safety protocols:
“As you are aware, cases of COVID-19 are on the rise throughout our county, state, nation, and world. Forsyth County had been a leader in practicing COVID-19 preventive actions since early spring, which allowed us to remain healthy and transition our students safely back to school and remain in school through Fall Break. But since that time, we have noticed a drastic change in our community which greatly concerns us,” said Dr. Jeff Bearden. “The first area of concern is what students are doing after school hours and on weekends, particularly at nonschool related gatherings and parties where social distancing and mask wearing are not practiced. FCS has no control over what happens outside of school, but parents/guardians do. Please know that from these events we have had students test positive for COVID-19, which forced many in their schools (who were not at the non-school related events) to quarantine at home for two-weeks of online learning due to the direct exposure. The increase in quarantined students has added stress to our face-to-face teachers who are now having to teach both in school and online to ensure all students are being educated. We request that you please review what your children are doing after school hours and on weekends.”
Bearden said he was also concerned about a lack of mask wearing amongst students, something he has not yet mandated in the district.