COVID-19 subvariant gains ground as Georgia health officials step up efforts to increase vaccination rates
In this April 8, 2021, photo, Georgia Tech employee Adam Jackson receives a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination at the vaccination site on the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
Danny Karnik / Associated Press file
Georgia health officials are preparing for a continuing rise in cases as the latest COVID-19 subvariant gains ground across the state.
Numbers from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the Omicron subvariant known as BA.5 is proving highly transmissible. It’s now the predominant strain behind COVID-19 infections nationally and in Georgia.
State Epidemiologist Cherie Drenzek at the Georgia Department of Public Health urges anyone eligible for vaccinations to get up to date on their shots, even people who have recently been infected.
“It’s a matter of getting boosted now and reducing this risk to have any severe outcomes from infections,” Drenzek said, “both from BA.5 and other variants that emerge in the future as well.”
Hospitalizations in Georgia are up by around 20% in the last two weeks. Health officials say this number could keep rising as new data comes in since the July 4 holiday weekend.
As of July 6, 2022, the state counted 21,028 new COVID-19 cases since the previous week. There were nearly 1,100 people hospitalized with the virus.
With so many people using at-home COVID tests, the official weekly case numbers are an undercount, officials stress, but they do reflect current trends in the pandemic.
Deaths are mostly flat. Drenzek takes this as sign that vaccinations and boosters are effective, despite the rapid spread of BA.5.
“As far as our COVID-19 landscape goes, certainly the pandemic is far from over. There is no time for complacency now,” Drenzek said. “[The virus] has proven very adept at changing, new variants emerge and has myriad opportunities to do so. Considering its inherent abilities to evade immunity, we should expect there to be only sort of additional BA.5 increases and waves to come.”
The CDC continues to recommend testing for anyone with symptoms or after exposure to COVID-19, and masking indoors in crowded areas and in areas with high transmission.
DPH also announced Tuesday it’s rolling out a new statewide media campaign to promote vaccinations.
Georgia’s rate of fully vaccinated people — 55% — hasn’t budged much recently. And fewer than a quarter of state residents have a booster shot.
That’s lower than the overall national booster rate of 32%.
Top Stories
