ATLANTA (AP) – COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are on the cusp of surpassing January peaks in Georgia as hospitals worried Monday that the delta variant of the respiratory illness threatens to suck some Georgia hospitals dry of medical oxygen, a key treatment for people struggling to breathe.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order calling up as many as another 1,500 National Guard soldiers to help short-staffed hospitals with nonmedical jobs, on top of the 1,000 previously authorized. Also, teachers and state employees insured by the state health plan will qualify for a cash incentive to get vaccinated.
The Republican governor is steadfastly focusing on voluntary vaccination as a solution to the pandemic, spurning other interventions such as mask mandates, capacity reductions in public places or efforts at surveillance testing that could help shut down the chain of infection.
“It’s just causing division, it’s causing people’s blood pressure to go up,” he said of arguments about masks. “We need to continue to educate and advocate, for people to get the vaccine.”
The state Department of Public Health on Monday released weekend numbers showing that at a Saturday peak, Georgia’s seven-day rolling average for cases was just below 9,591, just below the Jan. 11 peak of 9,635. About 5,600 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized across Georgia on Monday, nearly one-third of all people in hospitals. That’s just short of the record of 5,715 set on Jan. 13.