Despite falling COVID-19 cases, Muscogee County saw 17 deaths reported in past week
Seventeen COVID-19 deaths were recorded in Muscogee County over the last week, despite case counts and hospitalizations in the area continuing to decline.
Six of those deaths were reported on Oct. 9, one of the highest single-day totals during the pandemic. The 7-day moving average on Oct. 14 was 2.4 deaths, the highest since a 2.6 average on March 7.
Despite the high death toll in the last week, the county is seeing its lowest case numbers since the start of the most recent surge in July. Hospitalizations in Columbus have dropped to around 84 patients from 180-190 in the last month, Mayor Skip Henderson said Thursday.
“Those (death) numbers lag because it takes awhile before they can get the death certificate completed and turned in,” Henderson said. “But that’s the really sad part about this, is that this variant is a little bit more severe.”
The delta variant is about twice as contagious as previous COVID-19 variants and data suggest that it also caused more severe illnesses in unvaccinated people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gov. Brian Kemp recently urged Georgians to get vaccinated in anticipation of a surge of cases in the winter. Henderson said he’s concerned about the same trend, since last winter had the highest number of hospitalizations for Columbus since the start of the pandemic.
“We got as high as 215 people in hospitals,” Henderson said. “So, I’m very hopeful that we won’t see quite as significant a surge because of the number of persons that have already gotten their vaccine.”
He recommends that people visit their physicians and ask them advice about getting the vaccine, Henderson said, adding that if they’re healthy enough to take the vaccine, they should do so.
The vaccine is a resource to get the pandemic under control and until it is controlled, Henderson said he fears that Columbus will continue to experience waves of COVID-19.
People won’t believe newscasters or politicians, he said, and they shouldn’t rely on those individuals for advice on getting the vaccine. However, Henderson said people should be social distancing and listening to medical professionals.
“You obviously trust them because you take medication that you don’t know what’s in that medication,” he said. “But you take it, and it makes you feel better. So, I hope more and more people will begin to ask the questions, do the research, trust the science and get vaccinated.”
Here are the latest COVID-19 trends in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties, according to Georgia Department of Public Health data.
Muscogee County
Muscogee County reported a two-week case rate of 186 cases per 100,000 people, as of Oct. 14. There were 356 coronavirus cases reported in Muscogee County in the last two weeks. This is the lowest number of cases in a two-week period since July 28, when there were 345 cases, and a rate of 180 cases per 100,000 people.
The seven-day moving average on Oct. 14 was 23.3 cases, the lowest since July 24, when the average was 22.6 cases. The seven-day moving average is found by taking the number of cases reported in the last seven days, adding them up and then dividing by seven.
Over the last week, 2,634 new viral tests were reported, and Muscogee County’s test positivity rate for the past two weeks is 10%.
There are 85,492 residents (44%) in Muscogee County who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 75,735 (39%) are fully vaccinated.
Georgia update
Total cases: 1,249,205 (+10,895 reported since Oct. 8). The number of new cases reported in a day may not match the difference in total cases over a 24-hour period. This occurs because previously reported cases may be removed as duplicate reports are corrected. An older confirmed case may also be reclassified as additional information is collected during an investigation.
Vaccination Rate: 54% of Georgians have received at least one dose, while 47% are fully vaccinated.
Total deaths: 23,680 (+445 deaths since Oct. 8). It’s important to note that these numbers indicate when deaths are reported to the Georgia Department of Public Health. It does not reflect when these deaths occurred.
Positivity rate for Georgia today: 11.2%. The rate over the past two weeks is 7.5% positive.
Current COVID hospitalizations: 208 hospitalizations reported on Oct. 14.
More information about COVID-19 data in Georgia can be found on DPH’s COVID-19 status dashboard.
This story was originally published October 15, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
