ATLANTA — During a press conference Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp said a COVID-19 vaccine could soon be in Georgia, but mass distribution in the state won't happen for several months.
Kemp mentioned the delay in the arrival of a vaccine, and the general public being able to get a shot is why people need to continue wearing masks and following other COVID-19 related safety guidelines.
The latest numbers from the Georgia Department of Public Health in tracking the virus only reinforce the governor's message.
Hospitalizations have been trending upward lately and currently, more than 2,600 Georgians are hospitalized as a result of the virus.
From Nov. 30 to Dec. 7, hospitalizations in Georgia increased 13 percent, according to data from the state, but that was still 22 percent below a daily high mark of 3,200, set on July 30.
"All of our metrics are going up and certainly our hospitalizations is the one number that I continue to watch as much as anything," Kemp said on Tuesday.
In a Grady Health Systems newsletter on Wednesday, CEO John Haupert wrote, "With each passing day, COVID-19 hospitalizations in our city and state go up. They are rising to a level that will soon jeopardize our collective ability to care for patients with other serious illnesses. We’re facing a COVID wave that was already underway and now intensified by the post-Thanksgiving cases we knew would come. We are bracing for the worst, as the holiday-related case numbers are not expected to peak for several more days."
Haupert added, "This makes us extremely concerned that the Christmas to New Year’s Day holiday period may actually be worse because it’s a more extended time frame for people to travel and spend time with those outside their 'bubble.'”
The most recent report for Georgia from the White House Coronavirus Task Force placed the state in the so-called "red zone," or the worst category for virus activity.
One recommendation in the report was to "Begin warning about any gathering during the December holidays."
"We are obviously seeing more community spread now," Kemp said during his Tuesday news conference. "I would urge my fellow Georgians, if there is an activity that you don't have to do that involves you having to be around a lot of people, don't do that."
After a Thanksgiving holiday drop-off, the number of people getting tested for the virus is on the rise again and another troubling trend is that at the same time, the percentage of people testing positive is also quickly increasing.
During the last seven days of November, 9.2% of Georgians tested for the virus, received a positive result. That number jumped 30% during the first 7 days of December, with 12% of people now testing positive.
Deaths from the virus are still well below the record numbers set in August, but, are trending upward and often lag behind spikes in new cases and hospitalizations.
Kemp says current trends are concerning, but the situation currently is more manageable than earlier in the pandemic.
"Because we have better treatments, we have better therapeutics," he said. "We are better managing that just because of what we have learned."