Georgia is seeing a rise in positive COVID tests this summer. The top five counties in Georgia with the most COVID cases: Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb, and Clayton Counties, also known as the metro Atlanta area.
“I never had it. I avoided it somehow,” said Cathy Hendrick of DeKalb County.
“I’ve never had it before. In fact, I’ve gone through two years of teaching hundreds of kids every day, didn’t get it, thought I wasn’t going to get it,” added Kristy Shelton, who lives in Gwinnett County.
The latest omicron offshoot, BA.5, has quickly become dominant in the US, according to the CDC. Antibodies from vaccines and previous COVID infections only have limited protection against the offshoot.
“I’m an elementary pe teacher and I got it two days after school was out,” said Shelton.
“I’ve got the vaccine, the booster, so now I’m thinking natural immunity. I’ve got it all,” said Hendrick.
Georgia’s Department of Public Health graphs show confirmed cases have been on the rise consistently since May. Three months ago, the state’s average of new cases was around 250 a day. Now, there are 2,000-3,000 people testing positive each day.
“It put me down for three good days-I couldn’t get up off the coach,” said Shelton.
Exact numbers are hard to determine according to medical experts, because many people are testing at home or not at all. The CDC has reported over 100,000 new cases a day on average. But infectious-disease experts think that number could actually be as many as a million. But despite the rise in cases, this strain isn’t looking to be too dangerous.
“It really was not bad at all,” said Hendrick. “I tested. And of course, I had COVID, but I went and ran, and I, you know, worked in the yard.”
The country hasn’t seen a spike in hospitalizations.
“I never ran a fever, I never really felt that bad. I just had to isolate, that was the hard part,” said Hendrick.
No comments