Grady chief medical officer: ‘We’re in 4th wave of a COVID tsunami’

ATLANTA — It’s not the first time COVID infections have risen in the state of Georgia or in the U.S., but according to most hospitals, the latest jump is due to the Delta variant.

The sharp upswing has hospitals struggling to keep up and those who run the hospitals very worried.

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According to the latest numbers from Georgia Department of Health, the positivity in the state is 18.8% as of Tuesday.

Channel 2′s Carol Sbarge spoke with Grady Memorial Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Robert Jansen Tuesday afternoon.

Jansen said he’s very concerned the outbreak may get even worse after Labor Day Weekend.

He said the hospital is seeing a 9% to 10% increases in cases per day, a dramatic change from just one month ago.

“We are now in our fourth wave. It’s kind of depressing to say that,” Jansen said.

Jansen said the only thing he can compare the latest wave of cases during the pandemic to is a Tsunami.

He said the hospital had been averaging 10-15 coronavirus patients a day. It’s now jumped to nearly 100. He did stress the vast majority of the patients needing admission were unvaccinated.

Jansen also said they’ve confirmed 17 patients recently who were vaccinated but still required admission to the hospital.

“For those of us who were around in the chicken pox days, this is coronavirus/chicken pox. It’s that contagious,” Jansen said. “It’s frightening to think what could happen if people are not careful during Labor Day.”

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Jansen said he’s very worried that Labor Day gatherings might accelerate the rate of COVID-19 cases.

He said the high numbers right now are currently putting a huge strain on hospitals. The reason for that he said is because most hospitals are dealing with shortages of nurses and respiratory therapists.

Jansen said he is urging anyone who is eligible to go get vaccinated.

“If you are vaccinated, the probability of you getting really ill and requiring hospitalization is very small,” Jansen said. “And people should do that not just for themselves, but the people they are around.”.

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Jansen also told Sbarge it would be very good to have the extra beds the state had set up in previous surges at the World Congress Center available.

But Gov. Brian Kemp said at this time there are no plans in place to do that.

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