ATLANTA — COVID-19 cases are on the rise in the Peach State with the Delta variant now the dominant strain of coronavirus in the U.S.
11Alive is looking at key metrics to determine where Georgia stands now in the pandemic.
As of Thursday afternoon, according to numbers from the state Department of Public Health, new confirmed positive cases and antigen cases of the virus in Georgia are now averaging at more than 5,400 per day. That number was only around 350 per day in June.
The last time the state saw average case numbers this high was at the beginning of February. A DPH spokesperson said the number of new cases reported Thursday -- 5,985 -- is more than 10 times higher than the total on July 1, 202.
In just the past two weeks, the average number of total cases in Georgia (antigen and confirmed) are up more than 250%.
The graph below shows the number of COVID cases the state has seen since November 3. The blue bars show the number of new cases reported each day while the orange bars show the cases reported within the past week. The dotted line is the 14-day moving average.
The average number of hospitalizations related to COVID per day has also significantly increased, surging from over 704 per day two weeks ago to over 2,300 Thursday. That's an increase of 227%
Doctors said coronavirus cases are increasing daily as the Delta variant easily infects the unvaccinated, who comprise nearly all of the hospitalized COVID patients.
For example, as of Thursday there were nearly 3,000 COVID patients Georgia hospitals, according to the state's Department of Public Health.
Four regions, including the northwest corner of the state and near Savannah, are considered stressed by the number of COVID patients they are seeing.
The chart below shows the number of new COVID-19 case compared to the active number of patients in hospitals.
The White House and some health officials have referenced what's happening with the coronavirus as the “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
In the Peach State so far, more than 8.9 million vaccines have been administered with just 41% of people fully vaccinated. Six percent of people are in between doses. However, Georgia is still one of the lowest ranked states for vaccine administration in the country.
The graph above shows a breakdown of the vaccination numbers.
More than half of the eligible population — 53% — in the state still has yet to get a shot for COVID in their arm.
The weekly average for vaccine administration right now is about 31,000 new shots per day. Children under 12 years old are still ineligible for vaccination.