ATLANTA — As the state works to get more people vaccinated for COVID-19, health officials remain concerned about the new highly contagious variant that was first detected in the U.K. that is now in Georgia.
As of Tuesday, the state told 11Alive Georgia has at least 23 known cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in nine counties. That is up from 19 cases reported earlier in the week.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Dr. Kathleen Toomey, head of the Georgia Department of Public Health, visited a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination site at Cobb County's Jim Miller Park on Wednesday morning. Kemp provided an update on COVID-19 vaccine distribution across the state during his visit. He also mentioned how Georgians need to stay on guard.
The governor said although the vaccine is here and more people are getting shots everyday, "we are also still in a deadly race against a highly contagious virus."
Kemp said now is not the time for Georgians to stop following public health guidance of wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, and washing your hands.
"This has proven to work in limiting the spread of COVID-19 especially in light of the new variants that we are certainly dealing with now," Kemp said.
"I mentioned the new strains spreading quickly in places like Brazil and others and we know that those variants we have to assume that they're here we need to stay on guard in regards to that," he added.
Toomey previously stated this variant, according to the CDC, will likely be the dominant strain in the United States by March. The department said this variant is "significantly more contagious" than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and "may increase the risk of death."
On Tuesday, the state reported 159 new COVID-19 related deaths, which was another- above average day for deaths.
The governor said that in Georgia, so far, more than 1 million people have now had at least one shot administered, with more than 500,000 of those people being seniors.