BLAIRSVILLE, Ga – As the Delta Variant reaches small communities, Union County’s experiencing a significant uptick in COVID-19 for the first time in months.

“Union County has seen 68 new cases in August as of today. Comparing this to other months, Union County saw 60 cases the entire month of July, 37 cases in June, and 41 cases in May. Union General Hospital currently has 37 COVID inpatients. This number exceeds the number of confirmed positive inpatients that the hospital cared for at any one time during the January 2021 COVID surge.” – statement from county government

According to Georgia Department of Health (DPH) Data, all North Georgia is again listed as high transmission communities as of August 9, 2021. The county indicator report, which comes out every two weeks, noted that from 7/24 – 7/30 25 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. However, the numbers grew to 40 confirmed cases from 7/31 – 8/6.

The rise in cases began around July 27. Previously, Union was reporting between zero and two cases a day, but since then, COVID-19 cases have steadily been on the rise.

DPH counties with high transmission graph

Emergency Department visits are increasing as well with COVID-19 listed visits increasing by 5 percent from week to week. Respiratory-related emergency visits remained constant at 7 percent.

Union County agencies and the hospital does have procedures in place to help combat the surge in cases.

The statewide death rate doesn’t appear to match the recent surge in cases. However, this data takes a few weeks after the initial confirmed cases uptick to determine. Still, both numbers increase almost daily.

Health officials are urging the unvaccinated to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Union County officials also advocate for the vaccine. At this time, 90 percent of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated.

“Unfortunately, we can expect COVID numbers to keep growing. People who are unvaccinated or skip their second dose of vaccine are targets for infection,” said Kathleen E. Toomey, M.D., M.P.H., commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health. “Getting vaccinated is the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the Delta variant. High vaccination coverage will reduce spread of the virus in your community and elsewhere – and help prevent new variants from emerging.”

Vaccination rates in Union County appeared to be stalled at 41 percent for fully vaccinated and 47 percent with at least one shot. The only mountain county with a higher percentage of the population vaccinated is Towns with 45 percent.

The COVID-19 vaccine is readily available. Many pharmacies are offering it by appointment and the health department will take walk-ins for the shot.

Some breakthrough infections of COVID-19 are occurring among the vaccinated, but it’s a small portion. According to DPH, of the 4 million fully vaccinated, 0.12 percent have tested positive and 0.00058 percent have died.

Courtesy of the Department of Public Health

The Delta Variant has proven to be more contagious than previous iterations of COVID-19. Some data on variant suggests more severe illness can result from infection than the original strain.  According to the CDC, vaccinated individuals who experience a symptomatic breakthrough can transmit the virus to others. At this time, it’s unclear if an asymptomatic breakthrough can transmit it to others. Vaccinated people do appear to be infectious for a shorter amount of time.

The CDC recommends that everyone, even fully vaccinated, wear a mask indoors in high transmission areas.