Thanksgiving COVID spike in Dougherty County points to need for smart holiday gatherings

ALBANY — Health and elected officials are encouraging residents to have a merry little Christmas, with the emphasis on “little,” as a post-Thanksgiving surge in new novel coronavirus cases have hit the region.

That includes limiting the size of gatherings and protecting those who are the most vulnerable including the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Meanwhile, paramedics are seeing patients in many instances displaying a different set of symptoms than they showed earlier in the pandemic.

In the most recent 14-day period, the number of positive tests per 100,000 was 452 in Dougherty County. That was up 20 percent from the 371 recorded in the previous 14-day period, Southwest Health District Health Director Dr. Charles Ruis said during a press conference held Friday.

“I agree with the mayor, cases are going up,” he said. “Four hundred fifty-two is not a good number, but believe it or not in other places, especially in north Georgia, the numbers are 600, 900, 1,200 cases per 100,000.”

Ruis used those figures to underscore the point that local residents could find themselves in areas with a higher level of infection than is the case at home.

The United States set a record number of hospitalizations on Friday for the 13th day in a row and nearly every state in the country currently is rated as a hot zone for COVID-19, with hospitals overwhelmed in many locations.

“If you travel, you may be traveling to a location that is a lot sicker than where you are,” Ruis said.

Ruis did not know when the first shipment of vaccines would arrive in southwest Georgia. Once a vaccine arrives, the health district, which covers 14 counties, will focus on vaccinating residents in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other congregant-living housing including jails, he said.

On Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for emergency use the Moderna vaccine for emergency use for individuals 18 and older, a week after the approval of Pfizer’s vaccine.

Because the vaccine will not be widely available any time soon, Ruis urged residents to continue practices meant to slow the spread of the disease. Those include wearing face covering, social distancing and frequent and thorough hand-washing in addition to the sanitizing of surfaces. Also, the vaccine does not prevent a person who has had the shot from being a spreader of the coronavirus.

On Friday, there were 81 patients hospitalized for treatment at Phoebe Putney Health system facilities in Albany, Americus and Sylvester, up from 23 four weeks earlier.

That increase is attributed mostly to a spike that began around the Thanksgiving holiday, said Dr. James Black, director of emergency at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany.

“We are certainly apprehensive as we approach the Christmas holiday that this will continue and get worse,” said Black, who was the first person in the region to receive the Pfizer vaccine earlier this week as the hospital began vaccinating employees.

While some people have misgivings at the quick pace of the development of the vaccine, Black said that new technology developed over the past decade have allowed for the faster turnaround time in developing new vaccines. The vaccines approved do not contain a “live” version of the virus.

“You are not getting a vaccination that contains COVID-19,” he said. “This is the first time researchers from around the world are working toward one purpose. I think we have the benefit of the collaborative effort.”

Noting that 83 percent of COVID deaths have been among those 60 and older, Albany Mayor Bo Dorough said that people participating in holiday gatherings should keep that in mind in planning to protect the most vulnerable.

The number of flu cases are much lower than in a normal year, which he said is due to the protective measures that have been put in place to prevent transmission of the coronavirus.

“We are tired of the safety precautions, what (is) called COVID fatigue,” Dorough said. “What we have seen from Thanksgiving, the same thing we saw from July 4, is we have these gatherings and the numbers spike. People are going to gather, and infections are going to go up.”

In recent weeks, as medical calls have increased, paramedics have noticed a trend of patients who are transported to hospitals and test positive for the coronavirus are displaying different symptoms This shift includes more patients displaying symptoms such as diarrhea and other more “flu-like” symptoms, said Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas.

Some residents are waiting several days before calling for an ambulance when they get violently ill, and Cohilas urged that people be aware of the various symptoms of the disease and seek testing and treatment early.

Where in early November the number of transfers by EMS personnel was at less than seven per week, that has increased to 18 this week.

“Those are people who are very sick,” Cohilas said. “It’s important we keep the number of people who fall into that category as low as possible.

With hospitalizations rising, it is important to limit the spread so that local facilities are not overwhelmed, the chairman said.

“One key is making sure we have enough hospital beds, making sure we have enough hospital staff, enough respirators,” Cohilas said. “It’s important that we don’t have large gatherings. Make smart decisions as many of us have.

“Let’s continue to embrace and continue to lead as a community to show how we can manage this better than other communities. We have defined ourselves as a community by how we respond to adversity. Remember, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
File Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]