ATLANTA (AP) – The latest surge of COVID-19 may have peaked in Georgia, but hospitals continue to warn of the strain they face from overloaded emergency rooms and inpatient wards, urging people to take precautions despite widespread fatigue with pandemic restrictions.
Six Atlanta-area hospital systems made a joint appeal Thursday for people to be more vigilant about getting vaccinated, wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, reflecting a wave that drove hospitalizations to a new peak in metro Atlanta, unlike in the rest of the state so far.
“It’s wall-to-wall stretchers,” said Dr. Robert Jansen, chief medical officer of the Grady Health System. “We have no capacity left at the hospital and I don’t think we’re unique in that. This particular variant has been overwhelming to the health care systems.”
State data continues to show a wave of infections that shot up first in metro Atlanta and then rippled out into the rest of Georgia. The number of COVID-19 positive patients hospitalized statewide fell below 5,200 on Friday, down from a peak of about 5,400 earlier this week. That decline can be seen most clearly at hospitals in Atlanta, Athens and Macon.
Hospitalizations of COVID-19 positive patients were still at peak or rising Friday in parts of north Georgia around Gainesville and Dalton, as well as in Augusta, Columbus, Albany and rural areas of middle and south Georgia.