70% of Georgians hospitalized with COVID-19 this year unvaccinated

ATLANTA — More than 70% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Georgia in the first week of January were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated according to data from the Georgia Department of Health.

By contrast, 25% of people hospitalized with the virus were fully vaccinated but not boosted and 4% had received a booster shot.

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The data seems to suggest that booster shots are essential in keeping people from having a severe outcome from the latest variant of the virus.

The omicron variant of COVID-19 has quickly taken over as the dominant variant of the virus in Georgia, sweeping through in record numbers of new infections.

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The overwhelming amount of new data on new cases crashed the Georgia Department of Health’s website last week, with more than 21,000 new infections reported Friday.

Across metro Atlanta, people waited in line for hours at COVID-19 testing sites. The state is opening two mega-testing sites on Monday, one at Jim Miller Park in Cobb County and one in the 2000 block of Turner Hill Road in Stonecrest near the mall.

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