MURPHY — COVID-19 case numbers keep climbing in Cherokee County as the highly-contagious Omicron variant continues its spread across the United States.
Cherokee County Health Director David Badger expected the latest seven-day total to surpass 400 new cases by the time the numbers were tallied Tuesday afternoon. Precise updated figures were unavailable at press time Tuesday because the Cherokee County Health Department was closed Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
"Probably before the weekend, we were experiencing a higher daily average than we were the week before," Badger said. "Our actual positivity rate, and these numbers are always kind of a week behind, was about 33 percent, which is about the highest we've ever seen it. Those numbers are likely underreported because there's a high prevalence of home tests that are never reported to us."
Cherokee County also recorded two more COVID-19 related deaths during the past week, raising the local total to 107 since the pandemic began.
"We are seeing in probably the last week to 10 days an appreciable uptick in hospitalizations," Badger said. "That's a bit of a concern."
"The other thing that's kind of concerning is the continued lack of steady supply of antiviral treatments coming from the state and federal level. We're certainly feeling the impacts."
The Northeast Georgia Health System, which includes Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, Ga., had 341 COVID-19 positive patients in its care as of Monday, threatening to surpass the all-time high of 355 it set a year ago in Jan. 2021. Northeast Georgia Medical Center had 20 emergency patients awaiting a bed as of Monday, and all 91 of ICU beds were occupied with zero available.
The United States has recorded more than 65.4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 850,000 deaths since the pandemic began, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.