Summer COVID-19 outbreaks have begun to take hold in Georgia, but the number of cases is misleading

Epidemiologists, from the White House to Atlanta’s own researchers, said the spread of COVID was much worse than seen on paper because of the prevalence of home testing and the number of unreported infections. Dr. Jayne Morgan, Executive Director of Piedmont Healthcare COVID-19 Task ForceSaid that infectious diseases could be five to ten times higher than state reports, and Georgia is in the midst of a budding outbreak.

“We’re not just missing out on early traffic lights,” she told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “We passed it. It’s like we’re in it.”

Undercounting is due to several factors.Many states, including Georgia, have begun publishing COVID-19 data Weekly It can delay the public’s awareness of increased infections and hospitalizations, rather than daily.Recent dependence Home test Inspired by federal efforts to increase access to the test, the water is also cloudy as most positive home test results have not been reported to state authorities.

Dr. Ashish Jar, COVID-19 coordinator of the White House, Wednesday press conference The country is experiencing about 100,000 new infectious diseases every day. Home tests are not included in that number, so some health professionals estimate that they are only one-fifth or one-tenth of current infections.

“I’ve been a big fan of home testing for the last two years,” Jha said. “But that means clearly underestimating the infection.”

At the same meeting, Dr. Rochelle P. Warrensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that about one-third of Americans live in areas at high risk of COVID infection.She advised people to consider wearing masks in public indoors, and an increase in infections in Philadelphia Revive the duty of the mask For school.

The last two summers have been characterized by COVID outbreaks in the South, and President Joe Biden’s administration Predict to happen again This year. However, some doctors say that Omicron and its variants support a significant reduction in the number of hospitalizations and deaths, despite high infection rates.

“The only thing that gives me hope is that (hospitalization) has sunk much longer than the last few waves,” said Dr. John Delzel, Vice President and Incident Commander. Northeast Georgia Health System..

The number of people hospitalized with COVID has remained at or near the lowest since the pandemic began. Currently, about 500 COVID patients are hospitalized, a slight increase from the past few weeks, but inferior to previous outbreaks. At the peak of the Omicron wave in early 2022, there were more than 5,000 COVID hospitalizations. Data is showing..

Health experts are worried that widespread infections can land vulnerable people in hospitals and remutate rapidly changing viruses, leading to more serious illness and death.

“The cascade from infection to hospitalization, serious illness, and death provides a vast amount of information about what this version of the virus is doing,” said epidemiologist Dr. Richard Rosenberg. Georgia State UniversitySaid by email. “Now that many people are diagnosing at home … I missed a great opportunity to track it down.”

Death remains At the lowest point Since the pandemic began. Georgia recorded an average of about two deaths per day as of May 9, the lowest rate since May 17, 2020.

“Fortunately, Omicron and all its sub-strains … caused less serious illnesses,” Morgan said. “The bad news is that people are a little more casual about public health measures and vaccinations because it doesn’t cause so serious illness.”

The number of Georgians vaccinated has stagnated over the past few months, and almost all public COVID precautions, such as mandatory masks and forced quarantine, have been lifted in the state. Health professionals may be careful, vaccinated, and tested if they feel sick, especially as reinfections and breakthrough cases are becoming more common in Omicron. Said it was important.

“This can have long-term consequences … by infecting ourselves and endangering ourselves, new variants can emerge, so everyone else We risk it, “says Morgan.

— Staff writer Helena Oliviero contributed to this report.