White House COVID-19 task force lists Columbus as one of Georgia’s worst ‘red zones’
The most recent report from the White House coronavirus task force lists Columbus as one of Georgia’s top COVID-19 red zones, and officials recommend residents wear a mask “at all times outside the home” in an effort to stop the disease’s spread.
The report, provided to the Ledger-Enquirer by state officials, examines coronavirus data from Aug. 1 through Aug. 7 and offers policy recommendations to local and state officials on how to best handle virus mitigation.
Statewide, new case numbers stabilized but a larger percentage of coronavirus tests came back positive. The task force, as it has done in previous weeks, continued to call for Georgia to enact more stringent COVID-19 restrictions.
“Georgia is in the red zone for cases, indicating more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population last week, and the red zone for test positivity, indicating a rate above 10%,” a portion of the report reads. “Current mitigation efforts are not having a sufficient impact, and (we) would strongly recommend a statewide mask mandate.”
What does the White House recommend for Columbus?
From mid-July through early August, the Columbus metro area ranked fourth highest in the state for the number of newly reported coronavirus cases among red zone areas, behind only Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, Augusta-Richmond County, and Savannah.
During the same period, Muscogee ranked fifth highest for new COVID-19 cases among red zone counties, behind only Chatham, Richmond, Hall and Clayton. Of Georgia’s 159 counties, 130 are in the red zone, according to the report.
In COVID-19 red zones such as Muscogee County, the task force recommends some of the following safety measures:
Wear a mask at all times outside the home and maintain physical distance.
Limit social gatherings to 10 people or fewer.
Close bars and gyms, and create outdoor dining opportunities with pedestrian areas.
Reduce your public interactions and activities to 25% of your normal activity.
Ensure that all business retailers and personal services require masks and can safely social distance.
Other recommendations from the task force include providing surge testing and contact tracing resources to neighborhoods and zip codes with the highest case rates.
Muscogee County reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases on July 10 with 190. The county hasn’t reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases over a 24-hour period since July 18, according to data analyzed by the Ledger-Enquirer. The county surpassed 100 coronavirus related deaths on Aug. 11.
As of Aug. 14, 4,992 COVID-19 cases and 107 deaths had been confirmed in Muscogee County. The test positivity rate in Muscogee last week exceeded 10%, according to the federal task force report.
A copy of the White House task force report can be found below.
What do the White House task force and state officials say about Georgia’s data?
The task force report states community viral spread in Georgia is “widespread and expanding” and that virus mitigation efforts “must increase.”
According to the report, Georgia had 213 new cases per 100,000 people (22,660 total cases) from Aug. 1-7, which was above the national average of 114 cases per 100,000. Georgia saw a 9.2% decrease in the total number of cases compared to the week before. The state also reported 364 coronavirus-related deaths during that week, an increase of 17.4% from July 25-31.
“The White House Coronavirus Task Force paints a rather bleak picture of what is happening in Georgia’s response to the pandemic,” said Dr. Amber Schmidtke, who specializes in Medical Microbiology and Immunology. She follows Georgia’s coronavirus data closely and publishes her own daily updates. “I admire the science-focused recommendations in their report and hope that our state leadership and community leaders will heed their advice.”
On Friday, Governor Brian Kemp’s office and the state health department released a report focused on Georgia coronavirus data trends from Aug. 3-9. The report showed a weekly decline in new cases and a slight drop in test positivity rates.
“We are seeing decreases in many other areas,” a portion of the state’s report reads. “But we see growth and/or high transmission in rural middle GA (Bleckley, Appling, Wayne, Taylor, Crawford, etc.), Northwest GA (driven partially by many outbreaks in manufacturing facilities), east-central GA and areas of south Georgia. These increases are driven by ongoing community transmission as well as outbreaks.”
From Aug. 6 through Wednesday, the state identified 110 outbreaks, which include:
- 23 in long-term care facilities
- 14 in schools and school athletic teams
- 14 in office and workspaces
- 13 in manufacturing facilities
- 13 in prisons/jails
- 8 in churches
- 4 in restaurants
The report notes outbreaks were also identified in hospitals/outpatient facilities, daycares and grocery stores.
Nancy Nydam, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Public Health, told the Ledger-Enquirer that it does not release outbreak information to the public about job sites, schools, businesses and other settings “except in very rare cases.”
As of Aug. 14, Georgia reported 231,895 COVID-19 cases and 4,573 deaths.
Ledger-Enquirer reporter Mark Rice contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 15, 2020 at 8:00 AM.