August 22, 2021–4:13 p.m.
STAFF REPORTS
Northwest Georgia is seeing hospital admissions as we’ve never seen before due to COVID-19, particularly in critical care.
Those are the words of Dr. Gary Voccio, health director for the 10-county Georgia Department of Public Health’s Northwest District.
He added the majority of the people in critical care are unvaccinated and seriously ill.
“The hospital situation has become extremely serious,” he said. “Some hospitals are reporting emergency room stays of a few days before patients are admitted to the hospital for any kind of disease process. A lot of the patients now are overwhelming the emergency rooms and the hospital system, primarily with COVID.”
As of Friday, there were 89 COVID-19 patients at Floyd, and 53 at Redmond.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported Saturday evening, nearly 93% of inpatients beds and over 99% of ICU beds were in use in Region C, which includes Floyd, Bartow, and Polk Counties
Dr. Voccio again urged everyone to get vaccinated.
“Remember that vaccines are the answer to getting out of this pandemic,” he added. “We are now experiencing the Delta variant, which is susceptible to vaccines. Not as robust as we saw initially, but yes, the Delta variant has been affected by the vaccines. You have to get a vaccine to keep out of the hospital and possibly save your life.”
Georgia Northwestern Technical College is teaming up with the Georgia Department of Public Health to offer a series of vaccine clinics.
The first will be on the Gordon County Campus in Calhoun this Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.
On August 30, vaccines will be offered on the PolkCounty Campus in Rockmart from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.
A vaccine clinic is scheduled for September 7 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. on the Floyd County Campus in Rome.
The vaccine is for GNTC students, staff, and faculty as well as the general public.
No appointment is needed. Just bring a picture ID.