Health & Fitness

GA Nears COVID-19 Daily Death Record As ICUs Near Capacity

Georgia reported 154 new COVID-19 deaths Saturday, approaching the daily death record of 159 deaths set on Friday, as ICUs near capacity.

Georgia reported 154 new COVID-19 deaths Saturday, approaching the daily death record of 159 deaths set on Friday, as ICUs near capacity.
Georgia reported 154 new COVID-19 deaths Saturday, approaching the daily death record of 159 deaths set on Friday, as ICUs near capacity. (Shutterstock)

ATLANTA, GA — With intensive care units across the state nearing capacity, Georgia reported 154 new coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday — just three fewer deaths than Friday’s record of 157 deaths, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health. The state has seen 11,029 deaths due to the coronavirus as of 3 p.m. Jan. 16.

Saturday marks the fifth day in a row that more than 100 deaths have been reported. A total of 754 people have died from the coronavirus in Georgia since Monday. Five of the six deadliest days of the pandemic in Georgia have been in just the past week.

In total, Georgia has seen 46,515 people hospitalized because of the coronavirus, public health department data shows, and 91.7 percent of ICU beds across the state are in use as of 3 p.m. Saturday. There are currently 5,548 people in the hospital because of the coronavirus, down by 44 current hospitalizations since Friday, according to data from the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.

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Officials from some of Georgia’s rural hospitals told Fox 5 Atlanta on Friday that their hospitals are full or almost full — and they cannot find another hospital in Georgia or neighboring states to transfer patients to, since larger facilities are more equipped to deal with the virus.

Miller County Hospital CEO Robin Rau said on Friday that they have four patients with COVID-19 that they were trying to transfer to another larger hospital, but they cannot find critical care beds available anywhere. Miller County Hospital is located in rural Colquitt near the Georgia-Alabama border.

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"We have called hundreds and hundreds of hospitals," Rau told Fox 5 Atlanta. "There is not a hospital bed within seven states of Georgia to get these patients into."

Georgia has now seen a total of 674,994 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, with 6,952 reported Saturday excluding antigen positive cases; however, state officials have said there is a lag in the data reported each day due to the lag time between when the case was tested and when it was submitted to the state health department for reporting purposes.

The state also reported 1,885 new antigen-positive cases Saturday, bringing Georgia’s total number of antigen-positive cases to 134,669. The state’s positivity rate is 10.8 percent, per public health data.

Georgians age 65 and older, first responders, health care workers, and long-term care facility residents and staff are eligible for the coronavirus vaccine as of publication Jan. 16, per the state's phased rollout of the vaccine. Georgia is in Phase 1A+ of the rollout.

Those who wish to be vaccinated can find vaccination sites across the state on the state public health department's vaccination locator tool. Appointments are required to receive the vaccine, and Georgians can go to any vaccination site in the state — not just the ones in their county of residence.

Publix is offering vaccination appointments at 108 of its pharmacies in Georgia, and Kroger is offering vaccination appointments at all of its pharmacies in the state. To schedule an appointment at Publix, visit the grocer's online reservation system. To schedule at Kroger, visit its website.


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