Though the COVID-19 an infection price is on a sluggish decline within the area, well being officers are warning the general public to stay vigilant.
Proceed to take steps to guard yourselves, advises Ginger Heidel, threat communicator for the eight-county Coastal Well being District.
Get vaccinated and observe the rules for defense in opposition to COVID-19. Security measures embody sporting a masks when round others in public, preserving a secure distance away from others and washing palms continuously.
“Despite the fact that an infection charges appear to be lowering, our communities are nonetheless experiencing extraordinarily excessive transmission charges and hospitalizations,” she mentioned Wednesday. “Most of those circumstances have been preventable as a result of they occurred in vaccine-eligible people who had not been vaccinated.”
As of Wednesday, 45.7% of the inhabitants in Glynn County was absolutely vaccinated. The determine was decrease in Camden County, the place solely 34.6% have been absolutely vaccinated a day in the past.
The COVID-19 caseload on the two hospitals operated by Southeast Georgia Well being System in Brunswick and St. Marys continues to drop. On the Brunswick hospital alone, the variety of sufferers with the virus receiving care Wednesday had fallen to 94 after ascending to a excessive of 144 on Aug. 31.
However the COVID-19-related loss of life toll continues to develop. As of Wednesday, 254 had died in Glynn, 67 in Camden and 21 in McIntosh. The well being districtwide loss of life toll was 1,094, or 1.6% of the people confirmed to have the virus. Statewide the quantity was 20,971, 1.8% of the contaminated sufferers.
The 5 different counties within the Coastal Well being District are Chatham, Liberty, Effingham, Bryan and Lengthy.
Anticipate the variety of fatalities to go up, Heidel mentioned, noting that deaths sometimes lag behind case numbers by just a few weeks.
“When somebody is recognized with COVID-19, it often takes a while for the sickness to progress and grow to be extra extreme and ultimately trigger loss of life,” she mentioned. “Some individuals will likely be within the hospital for weeks after prognosis earlier than passing away. Additionally, as soon as an individual has died, the state does an investigation to verify that the loss of life was certainly COVID-related earlier than reporting the COVID loss of life. So despite the fact that case transmission charges are slowing, we must always count on a rise in loss of life studies within the coming days and weeks, sadly.”
She added, “We proceed to induce anybody age 12 and older to get vaccinated as quickly as doable.”
It’s the identical message well being officers are trumpeting statewide and nationwide.
Cherie Drenzek, epidemiologist for the Georgia Division of Public Well being, advised the state board of public well being this week that 60% of all new COVID-19 circumstances are within the state’s Okay-12 public colleges.
Though the seven-day common of recent circumstances has fallen, Drenzek mentioned the chance of transmission stays excessive at a time when the Delta variant of COVID-19 is placing a pressure on Georgia’s hospitals and colleges.
Elsewhere across the nation, physicians are alarmed on the younger ages of recent sufferers.
“This virus is basically going for the people who find themselves not vaccinated,” mentioned Dr. Edith Brachio-Sanchez, an affiliate professor of pediatrics at Columbia College Irving Medical Middle in New York Metropolis. “And amongst these persons are youngsters who don’t qualify for the vaccine and youngsters and teenagers who qualify however are selecting to not get it.”
Nationwide statistics help her declare.
• A record-high 2,544 youngsters have been hospitalized with COVID-19 nationwide on Sept. 10, in response to the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers.
• A mean of 341 pediatric COVID-19 sufferers have been admitted to hospitals daily through the week ending Sept. 12, in response to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
• Greater than 57,000 youngsters have been hospitalized with the virus since August 2020, in response to the CDC. A lot of these admitted had no recognized preexisting situations.
• The variety of childhood COVID-19 deaths is growing. Not less than 529 youngsters have died from the virus, in response to CDC information.
• Not less than 243,373 new pediatric COVID-19 circumstances have been reported the week ending Sept. 9, in response to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a rise of about 240% from the weekly price in early July.
Vaccinations can be found on the Brunswick and St. Marys hospitals, in addition to at county well being departments and a few pharmacies. People ought to name first to make preparations to obtain the pictures.
