NEWNAN, Ga. — A request for the National Guard to help with treating a surge of COVID-19 patients arriving at Piedmont Newnan Hospital has been granted, according to hospital officials.
The hospital said in a statement that it made a formal request for assistance to Gov. Brian Kemp. The hospital's chief medical officer, Dr. Robert Miller, told 11Alive Thursday evening that the request has been granted.
An unknown amount of medics could arrive as soon as Friday, according to Miller.
"We are at 128 percent of our capacity and the only thing that is preventing us from expanding anymore is truly a lack of nurses," he said. "We really need medics to help triage the people in the emergency room to help start IVs, check vital signs. We are backed out into the waiting room of our emergency room."
Earlier this week, the governor said he was deploying 105 National Guard personnel throughout the state to assist hospitals under the strain of the current COVID surge.
"These 105 people, they are people that weren't currently in that environment," Kemp said in an 11Alive interview Wednesday. "They're people that are coming back from other tours of duty that haven't gone back to work yet and are available to assist in the hospital setting."
"The hospital has asked to receive combat medics, who can assist with the high numbers of COVID-19 patients, largely unvaccinated and requiring a higher level of care," the hospital's statement said. "Piedmont welcomes and appreciates the support of the Georgia National Guard so that its facilities can continue to provide safe, patient-centered care to the community."
The hospital added that they are seeing more hospitalizations and deaths among the 18-39 age demographic than in previous surges.
According to Miller, Piedmont Newnan is also seeing a 26% increase in critically ill COVID-19 patients and a 76% increase in patients on ventilators compared to the previous surge in cases back in January. Currently, 96% of COVID-19 patients Miller said are unvaccinated.
"Roughly 3.8% that we are seeing that were breakthrough infections are in people with multiple comorbidities, other medical problems," he said.
According to Georgia Department of Public Health data, 32.6% of patients in the region including Newnan are currently COVID-19 patients. That is roughly equivalent to the statewide rate of 31.6%, though considerably higher than the 23% registered in the region including Atlanta.
State vaccination data indicate that in Coweta County, 37.1% of residents are fully vaccinated and 42.6% have received at least one dose.
"To help combat this surge, we encourage those who have not been vaccinated to do so quickly, and for everyone to continue wearing a mask, watching your distance and washing your hands," Newnan Piedmont said.
Statewide, there are more than 5,500 COVID patients according to the most recent DPH data, only slightly fewer than the state's record total back in January. The state reports 43% of residents are fully vaccinated and 50% have received at least one dose.
"These guardsmen will assist our frontline healthcare workers as they provide quality medical care during the current increase in cases and hospitalizations, and I greatly appreciate General Carden and his team for their willingness to answer the call again in our fight against COVID-19,” Gov. Kemp said in a statement earlier this week. “This Georgia National Guard mission is in addition to the 2,800 state-supported staff and 450 new beds brought online I announced last week, at a total state investment of $625 million through December of this year. I continue to urge all Georgians to talk to a medical professional about getting vaccinated.”