ATLANTA — Even as overall new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations dip downward, organizations like CovidExitStrategy and CovidActNow, which track the virus’ impact, have Georgia in the red.
It’s a sign the virus is not under control and still spreading through every age groups – in every part of the state.
One reason, the number of people dying with the virus is still high. Today the Department of Public Health (DPH) reported 30 new deaths in the state.
The four largest metro counties accounted for 23 percent of the 758 deaths in the past two weeks. Fulton had 58 deaths, Gwinnett 56, Cobb 32 and Dekalb 30.
The other 77-percent were scattered throughout the state, another sign of widespread community transmission.
DPH doesn’t separate White from Latino people in its data, but together they make up the largest number of people who died – 364 in the past two weeks. Black people made up 270 of those deaths and 10 people were of Asian descent.
“As of July 31, our team at Department of Community Health (DCH) has surveyed 100 percent, 100 percent of our skilled nursing facilities for compliance with infection control measures,” said Gov. Brian Kemp at a press conference on Monday.
As the governor talked about increased testing efforts, he also took time to commend the state’s efforts to curb the virus’ spread in our long term care facilities.
It is a positive step, but in the past two weeks, data from DCH still shows 277 people still died in our nursing homes. That’s more than a third of our deaths.
It also highlights the danger of COVID’s reach.
While those 60 and older remain the greatest at risk for severe complications, more than half of those that died in this age group were not living in nursing homes – they were a part of our general population.
While we generally focus on the risk to the state's older population, it is believed two elderly church members infected a 7-year old boy from Chatham county. His death was announced last week, making him the youngest death to date and further proving, the young are not immune.
Thanks to increased testing, we’re catching asymptomatic people faster. But 20 percent of those who need intense medical treatment are still dying.
When you look simply as the total loss of life, the numbers are growing from an average of 16 people each day at the beginning of July to 50 people right now.