Georgia’s COVID-19 hospitalizations drop by a third, state’s data shows

https://www.ajc.com/news/stateregional-govtpolitics/georgia-covid-hospitalizations-drop-third-state-data-shows/UXxBn0Psiyc0GTkywdwLPP/

Current statewide hospitalizations for COVID-19 dropped by about a third in the last two weeks, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of data published by the Georgia Emergency Management & Homeland Security Agency.

The decline is significant, but it does not mean that infections are down since Georgia began to re-open at the end of April. There is about a two week lag between when a person is infected, shows symptoms, is admitted to the hospital, gets tested and receives the results.Hospitalizations for the novel coronavirus stood at just above 1,025 as of Monday, the most recent data available. It was 1,500 as of May 2, the date that GEMA first reported the measure. It began to publish the number on its daily situation report to give the public a clearer picture of the availability of hospital resources, a spokesperson for the agency said. GEMA gets its figures from the Georgia Department of Public Health. It does not include those hospitalized who are being investigated for suspected novel coronavirus infections.The AJC is now tracking current hospitalizations on its COVID-19 data dashboard to give readers a clearer picture of coronavirus in Georgia.

Experts agree that Georgia’s April lockdown slowed the spread of the virus successfully. They also expect cases and deaths to rise in the coming weeks now that the state’s shelter-in-place order has been lifted and more people are venturing from the safety of their homes.The current seven-day average of new confirmed cases stands at about 610. This is down by about 18% from two weeks ago.

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