Doctors and nurses from metro Atlanta’s major hospital systems are all but begging Georgians to get vaccinated and take other steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
On Thursday, several gathered in a press conference outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium and shared stories of full emergency rooms and long wait times for care.
Meanwhile, Gov. Brian Kemp announced he had signed an executive order blocking cities from forcing private businesses to require masks, vaccines or take other actions to mitigate the coronavirus.
Credit: Rebecca Wright
Credit: Rebecca Wright
In Georgia, less than 47% of eligible residents were fully inoculated, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Nearly 5,000 people with COVID-19 are hospitalized in the state.
Here’s a look at major developments related to COVID-19 over the past week.
Majority of hospitalized patients unvaccinated
The group of doctors at the press conference said the sheer volume of patients is making it hard to care for everyone quickly. It’s also affected people coming in with non-COVID ailments,
“Our emergency room, like so many, is overrun right now,” said Dr. Robert Jansen, chief medical officer of Grady Health System. “We have more patients in the emergency department waiting for care than at almost any other time. And this is seen at every hospital in the city and across the state.”
As of Friday, COVID-19 patients made up almost 29% of hospitalizations in Georgia.
Hospitals brace for even more patients
COVID cases are increasing so quickly among the unvaccinated that Georgia hospitals are bracing for a flood of patients that could exceed the January peak, the worst of the pandemic. And they’re not expecting things to let up until well into September or even October.
Some Georgia hospitals have already started pausing elective surgeries to preserve hospital beds and staff because of the flood of COVID-19 patients.
Northeast Georgia Health System erected tents at its Gainesville and Braselton locations in order to add capacity to its emergency department, which was so crowded at points this week that doctors and nurses had to see patients in ambulances while they waited for space to open up inside the ER.
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
A number of hospital systems are directing EMS to divert patients to other hospitals, if possible.
“We don’t have the luxury of saying we’re full and we’re closed. We’re not a hotel,” said Grady’s Jansen. “People will continue to come, and our staff will continue to cope and find places to take care of these patients. But it is going to be difficult and … it won’t make people happy.”
Some systems, including Wellstar, have restricted visitors to protect their patients from being infected.
More kids going to hospital
The soaring number of children contracting COVID-19 is also straining Georgia’s pediatric health care system.
More kids than ever before are suffering from coronavirus cases so severe that they need to be hospitalized, filling pediatric wards at a time when physicians are also contending with an unseasonable surge of other respiratory viruses.
While ER doctors and pediatric specialists interviewed say they’re able to keep up with cases for now, many fear what could come in the weeks ahead as the delta variant tears across the region and schools continue with in-person learning, with masks often optional.
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Many are alarmed at the increase of cases in such a short amount of time. In Georgia, the number of hospitalized children under 4 years old nearly quadrupled over the first couple weeks of the month, from 8 to 31, according to the state Department of Public Health. Among school-aged children 5 to 17, the number has almost doubled, from 28 to 50.
“What we’re seeing is that a low-frequency event — which is needing to be hospitalized — is happening a lot more frequently because so many kids are being infected in our communities right now,” said Dr. Stephen Thacker, associate chief medical officer at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah.
Kemp’s executive order gives businesses choice
Kemp’s executive order would give businesses the choice of whether to require vaccines, masks or limit capacity to reduce the spread of the virus. The Republican said cities shouldn’t be able to enact ordinances that require companies to do so.
“There are some across the state who want to go back into lockdown mode,” Kemp told reporters at the state Capitol. “The fact is that small businesses across our state should not be punished by local governments just because they’re trying to make a living, pay their employees and save their livelihoods.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Kemp has been under intense pressure from public health experts and Democrats in recent weeks to take new steps to curb the latest COVID outbreak. At the same, many conservatives aligned with former President Donald Trump, whom Kemp is seeking to win over as he runs for reelection next year, had been calling on Kemp to ban mask and vaccine mandates as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did last month.
Staff writer Greg Bluestein contributed to this article.
