Health officials in northeast Georgia said they were feeling optimistic amid a decline in COVID-19 transmission and hospitalizations following a wave in cases brought on by the Omicron variant.
As of Tuesday, Northeast Georgia Health System was treating 54 patients with COVID-19. COVID-19 hospitalizations at NGHS during the omicron wave peaked at 340 on Jan. 22.
Dr. John Delzell, vice president and incident commander for COVID response at Northeast Georgia Health System, said he is feeling optimistic amid the rapid decline in hospitalizations.
"We're really excited because we have been steadily dropping from our peak a few weeks ago," Dr. Delzell said. "We've really seen the surge that came on very quickly is going down very quickly as well."
Dr. Zachary Taylor, director of District 2 Public Health, said the transmission rate in northeast Georgia is trending downward, but it does remain high.
"Approximately 205 [cases] per 100,000 [people] over the past two weeks," Dr. Taylor said. "Anything more than 100 per 100,000 is considered high. However, given the way this decline has occurred, I expect in a few weeks we'll be at a much lower level and even at a low level of transmission in our area."
Both Dr. Delzell and Dr. Taylor agreed that while transmission rates were high during the omicron wave, those who contracted the virus during the wave suffered from less severe illness than in prior waves. Both said the omicron variant itself evoked a less serious illness, but the number of people who were vaccinated also contributed to the lower degree of illness.
Dr. Delzell said modeling shows hospitalization numbers will continue to drop in the coming weeks. While he is hopeful, he does not think the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 at NGHS will hit zero.
