Doctors and nurses in the Northeast Georgia Health System emergency rooms are facing a caseload of patients so stark that the workers are treating patients on ambulances until space is found inside the hospital.
Hospital staff at Northeast Georgia Health System and first responders are struggling to find bed space for patients as today the number of COVID-positive patients hit a new record.
“We’re used to having one of three busiest Emergency Departments in the state here in Gainesville, but our current situation is unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” said Dr. Mohak Dave , Chief of Emergency Medicine for NGHS. “We’re treating patients in hallways and waiting rooms every day. Sometimes patients have to spend the night there, because there’s no bed available.”
The latest report this morning from the NGHS website shows 340 COVID-positive patients, a new record, are being treated across all Northeast Georgia Medical Center hospitals and long-term care facilities. The next-closest number to that record was 322 COVID-positive patients on December 22, 2020.
Students in the Hall County School District will continue learning from home through Jan. 15 due to increased COVID-19 absences in Hall County team members.
The school district originally announced that the shift to learning from home would impact the first week of class following winter break, but this plan was extended by a week Thursday afternoon, according to a press release from the district.
The release states there were 170 COVID-19 related absences among Hall County team members as of Wednesday. The district also reports 170 to 190 adult absences per day that are non-COVID-19 related, according to the release.
“As a result, the district does not have the capacity to safely and effectively support the number of students currently enrolled for in-person instruction,” the release reads.
With Georgia topping 5,000 current hospitalizations for COVID-19, public health experts are calling for more state restrictions to curb the virus surge.
Yet another ominous factor popped up Tuesday: Georgia Public Health officials reported the state’s first case of the more contagious COVID-19 variant discovered in Britain last month and subsequently detected in several nations and U.S. states.
The variant was discovered during analysis of a specimen sent by a Georgia pharmacy to a commercial lab, state officials said. The Georgia resident is an 18-year-old male with no travel history, and is currently in isolation at home. Public Health said it’s working to identify close contacts of the individual and will monitor them closely and test them for the variant.
Health care facilities struggling to keep up with new COVID-19 patient count albanyherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from albanyherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.