Phoebe: COVID-19 inpatients tick up, variant takes over Georgia

Phoebe officials are warning people that cases are rising as a new variant is taking over in the state.

“COVID-19 cases are rising again in Georgia, proving the pandemic is not yet behind us. The CDC has confirmed a more contagious and dangerous variant of the virus – that was first identified in Britain – is now the dominant strain in our state, and it seems to be having a greater impact on younger people. About half of our health system’s COVID-19 admissions so far this month are patients who are younger than 50,” said Scott Steiner, Phoebe Putney Health System President and CEO. “We cannot let our guard down in our facilities, and we should not do so in our communities. While COVID-19 restrictions may have been relaxed in some areas, Phoebe will maintain a strict mask mandate in all our locations. We have safely loosened our visitation guidelines, but we still cannot allow more than two visitors at a time in non-COVID hospital rooms, and patients can only have one person with them for outpatient procedures and ER visits, so we can maintain safe social distancing. We appreciate everyone’s continued understanding and cooperation, and we encourage everyone to get vaccinated to allow us to return to more normal operations,” Steiner added.

As of noon Friday, these were Phoebe’s COVID-19 numbers compared to last week:

• Total COVID-19 Patients in Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital – 25, up five
• Total COVID-19 Patients in Phoebe Sumter Medical Center – 2, up two
• Total COVID-19 Patients in Phoebe Worth Medical Center – 0, stayed the same
• Total Inpatients Recovered – 2,264, up 10
• Total Positive Deaths from Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital – 255, stayed the same
• Total Positive Deaths from Phoebe Sumter – 67, stayed the same
• Total Vaccines Administered – 48,192, up 2,234