Coronavirus: Georgia beginning to plateau, but don’t let your guard down, top doctors say

ATLANTA — Infectious disease experts at Emory University have released new information on the path of COVID-19 as we reopen Georgia.

They held a virtual briefing Thursday morning.

Channel 2’s Carol Sbarge listened in on the call and she said doctors continue to stress the importance of wearing masks, washing hands and social distancing.

Dr. Carlos Del Rio, an infectious disease specialist at Emory, says that the COVID-19 virus in Georgia is beginning to plateau.

“I think what we're beginning to see in the U.S. is also, I would say, a certain stabilization -- a certain plateauing of the number of cases,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio.

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“I think we'll know a lot more in the next month, given the quite busy Memorial Day weekend and sort of the dynamics of travel, that is starting to occur,” said Emory University Dr. Colleen Kraft.

Asked about some increasing of cases happening in parts of Georgia, the doctors say that's going to happen with reopening and more testing.

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“I think the key as a state and as a nation is to rapidly identify individuals, isolate them, do contact tracing and stop the outbreak. I think we're going to see little outbreaks, but the idea is to make sure these outbreaks don't become large outbreaks,” Del Rio said.

The doctors say the virus isn't disappearing this summer, so the key is for all of us to continue to social distance and wear masks.

“It's a pretty small intervention that I think has a lot of yield in this way,” Kraft said.

The doctors also remind people who are medically vulnerable to continue to take precautions. In some cases, they may mean staying home.

CDC says Georgia will see 40,000 more deaths than this time last year -- not counting coronavirus Channel 2's Jovita Moore spoke with a metro health expert to explain the deadly trend behind those numbers.

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