Georgia could see 40,000 daily COVID-19 cases in next two weeks, model projects

ATLANTA — The Mayo Clinic is predicting that Georgia could see more than 40,000 new cases of COVID-19 a day within the next two weeks.

More than 25,000 new cases were reported on Dec. 25, the highest single-day total since the pandemic began.

Cases have risen 704% in Georgia in the last seven days, according to data from the New York Times.

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The latest surge is fueled by the highly-contagious omicron variant.

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More than 3,300 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Georgia hospitals, compared to less than 1,000 at the end of November. More than 1,000 Georgians have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in just the last week.

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For the week starting Dec. 25, a total of 1,313 people were hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 977 were not vaccinated. Three-hundred people who were hospitalized had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and 36 people who were hospitalized had booster shots.

Among unvaccinated people, there was a steep incline of 600 more hospitalizations the week of Dec. 15 than the week prior.

The Georgia Department of Health did not release new COVID-19 numbers Monday, saying that there is a large amount of data overwhelming the system. They expect to release new numbers on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

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