ATLANTA — As COVID cases continue to increase in Georgia and across the country largely due to the Delta variant, hospitals are seeing more COVID-related patients.
The state website that tracks diversions at hospitals, the Georgia Coordinating Center (GCC), was showing multiple facilities in "severe" mode on Monday, meaning that the emergency rooms at these locations are "severely overcrowded." Some in metro Atlanta, including Grady, were showing a "total diversion."
According to the state's Department of Public Health, the GCC is "responsible for coordinating the use of emergency rooms by ground ambulance services for patients being transported from the scene of an emergency to emergency departments."
As of Monday, there were 3,486 patients currently hospitalized for COVID-19 in Georgia. Nearly 19,000 people have died from the virus in the state since the pandemic started.
A spokesperson for Grady said that while COVID is playing a part in the crowded hospital, being the state's largest level one trauma center, this is not uncommon - especially this time of year.
Some of the Piedmont hospitals were also showing a total diversion Monday and unable to accept any EMS patients, including locations in Newnan and Fayette. Emory Decatur, WellStar/Atlanta Medical Center and Northside Cherokee were also showing this status on Monday afternoon.
In a statement, a Piedmont spokesperson said they encourage those eligible to get vaccinated, get the COVID shot.
"As has been the case throughout the pandemic and as indicated by publicly available government data, our COVID-19 hospitalization trend has followed the state's, with caseloads varying across our hospitals based on the level of community spread in those local communities and their surrounding areas."
To check the status of a particular hospital in the metro, you can visit the GCC website.