The question may be fairly asked based on two critical measures provided by the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Two charts point to the possibility that the pandemic has peaked.
First is the DPH chart of Covid newly reported cases from the beginning of the pandemic last March to today’s report of a daily case report under 3,000 new cases.
Second is the tabulation of how many Covid patients are occupying hospital beds across the state: That number is headed steadily downward.
In both cases, in the parlance of epidemiologists, the “curve” in both charts shows a double peak: The first smaller one last July into August, and the second larger one in the first half of January 2021. Both charts are shown in this article.
The numbers are trending in a better direction than they have been in many weeks. Today’s total case number across the state is 752,448, which is 2,581 new cases. In Fayette, the county added 28 new cases to bring the total to 5,180 total cumulative cases.
Fayette’s death toll is at 103 fatalities since last March, while the state is at 12,613 deaths, 43 new fatalities reported today.
Fayette’s 2-week new case average has dropped under 10% for the first time since just before Christmas.
Statewide, patients hospitalized for treatment of serious cases peaked at 5,717 Jan. 13. That number of Covid patients in hospital beds has dropped to 4,094 in today’s report, which is 1,623 fewer (28.3%) than the peak.
Questions that can also be fairly asked: Are future peaks ahead, and will they be comparable to those in the first year of the pandemic?
With vaccinations underway (albeit less rapidly than many would wish), and with a new variant of the coronavirus now showing up in several georgia counties, the answer today can only be a hopeful “maybe not.”
The daily pandemic reports from early March 2020 through Jan. 31, 2021 may be found by clicking here.
