Randolph County’s coronavirus rate highest in state as southwest Georgia enters second month of crisis

ALBANY — On a map showing the state’s highest concentration of coronavirus cases, much of southwest Georgia is colored a deep blue that indicates the counties that have been the hardest hit.

Dougherty, Mitchell and Worth anchor the southwestern corner, but it stretches as far as Clay, Early and Randolph counties on the Alabama line to Macon County to the north and Wilcox County to the east.

In all, the 18 counties make up 11 percent of the state’s 159 counties. In the remainder of the state, only four other counties — Bartow, Johnson, Pierce and Upson — have a number of cases that would extrapolate to 200 or more per 200,000 residents.

On the Georgia Department of Public Health’s map, the dark blue color distinguishes counties where positive tests for the coronavirus have been calculated at a rate of at least 200 residents for every 100,000. Randolph County has the highest rate; its 126 cases are the highest per capita rate in the state, with Early County close behind.

The Phoebe Putney Health System has been on the front lines fighting the battle for more than a month, and while not assured the number of new cases has plateaued, it has reached some level of normal — or at least a new normal — system CEO Scott Steiner said.

“They’re feeling a little more normal,” he said of employees. “Certainly the unknown isn’t as unknown anymore. I think people are bright-eyed, and I think they are in pretty good spirits for a team that is in their fifth week of caring for these patients.”

During that time, 55 patients have died at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany and 11 at Phoebe Sumter Medical System in Americus.

The number of Dougherty County residents who have died from complications of COVID-19 reached 82 on Tuesday, with two dying over the previous 24 hours. Dougherty County numbers include those who have died at the hospital, at a residence or in other counties.

Phoebe’s numbers include patients from Dougherty and other counties who have died at system facilities.

In Albany, intensive care units were first filled and then expanded, and now the hospital is looking to next week open additional space to treat COVID-19 patients at the Phoebe North facility on Palmyra Road.

The expansion to Phoebe North, planned to open on April 22, will add 12 additional beds for intensive care patients and 15 general medical rooms for COVID patients. There are 50 intensive care beds at the main hospital.

Despite the herculean work of taking care of patients sickened with the coronavirus, the hospital also is handling the usual duties of a hospital for patients who suffer heart attacks and strokes or have accidents.

On Tuesday, there were 145 patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus in Albany and 26 in Americus.

Since the crisis began, Phoebe has reported a total of 1,857 positive tests and 3,242 negative tests. On Tuesday, the health system was awaiting results from another 151 test samples.

The drive-through test site was closed for the weekend, and it also was closed on Monday due to threatening weather, with some 80 tests performed through mid-afternoon on Tuesday.

While not certain whether the number of cases has peaked, Steiner said the hospital is coping. The number of employees forced to isolate at home after testing positive for the coronavirus has decreased and most have returned to work.

“There’s light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re careful not to get overoptimistic because there is a lot of hard work to do,” Steiner said. “It’s not that the work isn’t hard. Whatever fear there has been of the unknown is not as much.”

Special Photo