Georgia sees highest number of daily new COVID-19 cases since start of the pandemic

ATLANTA — Georgia recorded the highest single-day total of new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday since the pandemic began.

The state reported a total of 13,670 combined PCR and antigen-confirmed cases of the virus as the highly-contagious omicron variant sweeps the state.

Georgia is once again seeing emergency room beds fill up. Emergency rooms were at 86.5% capacity Tuesday, nearly as high as during the delta surge of COVID-19 in September.

Several regions in the state were far exceeding capacity, with 105% of ER beds occupied in metro Atlanta, 116% in use in our western counties and 108% in use in the areas around Augusta.

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Just over 2,100 patients in Georgia hospitals were COVID-19 patients, but that number has been climbing steadily since last week. At the height of the delta surge, more than 6,000 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Georgia.

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Multiple emergency rooms in metro Atlanta were on diversion Tuesday.

So far, intensive care units are not seeing a corresponding rise in capacity. Across the state, ICU capacity is at around 80% with around 2,300 people in ICU beds. During the peak of the delta surge in September, more than 3,000 people were in ICUs across the state, with more than 2,000 on ventilators. Just over 1,000 people are currently on ventilators in Georgia.

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Among Georgians currently being hospitalized with COVID-19, the vast majority are unvaccinated. Last week, 379 unvaccinated Georgians were hospitalized compared to 95 people who had received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and just five people who had a booster shot.

The positivity rate in Georgia was 25% on Tuesday, the highest it has been since the pandemic began.

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