It’s been four years since COVID-19 did its worst in Georgia with Bartow County being one of the first epicenters suffering its wrath. The virus attacked churches first and the state was locked down, along with the rest of the world, in March. While most people think the virus is done and gone, health officials state it remains on their radar.
The Georgia Department of Public Health states that 2.4 million people in the state had COVID since the first outbreak. Reports state that 36,183 Georgians died from it. However, health officials also state that doctors and clinics didn’t test for the flu during the pandemic so it’s hard to identify and separate the two viruses.
DPH reports there have been 4,224 cases in the state with 54 deaths since the last website update, which was Jan. 31. Bartow County reported 127 cases over the past two weeks and has a total of 27,650 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Deaths are no longer being reported for counties.
Paulding County reported 106 cases over the past two weeks adding to its total of 33,386 cases. Polk had 57 cases adding to its 11, 574 total. Cherokee County saw 199 cases over the past two weeks and has a total of 56,529. Floyd County had 123 cases with a total of 28,469 and Cobb County had 445 cases over the past two weeks adding to its total of 176,261.
Georgia has done well in dealing with the variant, called the UK variant, with only one case reported. That was in Cherokee County. However, national health officials are concerned about a new respiratory virus in China. That virus is hitting young children with many going to hospitals to get IV fluids.
More than 3,500 respiratory infection cases were admitted to the Children’s Hospital, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control. The strain is believed to be mycoplasma pneumonia, commonly known as walking pneumonia.
So far, U.S. health reports show the number of children diagnosed with pneumonia as normal for this time of year.