COVID-19 Town Hall at Rockmart Theatre provides medical professionals chance to speak out about virus, vaccine

Number of new cases, deaths continue to rise in Polk County

• September marks the deadliest month yet for virus in Polk County since start of the pandemic with 23 people lost
• Virus cases top 6,000 with Tuesday increases, another 22 positives added today
• Redmond Medical professionals urge vaccination to help save lives

The toll from COVID-19 continues to rise locally as Polk County – at least in the opinion of doctors at a town hall at the Rockmart Theatre on Tuesday evening – remains a hotspot for the virus as the pandemic continues worldwide.

As of the latest update Wednesday from DPH, Polk County’s total number of PCR positive test results now sits at 6,027, an increase of another 22 positives on the day as the Delta variant of the virus spreads throughout Northwest Georgia.

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Redmond Regional Medical Center Doctors Tessa Gibson, Megan White, Tyler Dubbs and Nurse Practitioner Jina Ford all gave testimonials about their personal experiences with the virus and how it is currently filling up every available space at the Rome-based medical center, and they continue to watch unvaccinated patients die.

Today marked the first in several that Polk County hasn’t recorded a death, adding 8 since last Wednesday and bringing the full death toll locally to 113. Five alone were added on Tuesday, and two over the weekend. The county remains at 15 probable deaths after that figure increased last week as well.

Watch the above video to hear what they had to say on Tuesday evening at the Rockmart Theatre about various aspects of the pandemic.

Polk County added another seven patients to the hospital rosters today alone, and five on Tuesday, and two over the weekend as well. Since last Wednesday, 25 people have required treatment at an area medical center for the virus.

Add to that another 18 people who have been found to have COVID-19 antibodies in their system in antigen testing locally, and that brings the overall figure to 2,044 people who have been found to have the virus after the fact.

Overall, that brings the tally of COVID cases in Polk to 8,071 in total when combining PCR and antigen test results together.

Statewide, the total number of cases since tracking began surpassed 1.2 million in all – or based on 2020 census figures some 11% of Georgia residents have had the virus since late February 2020 when tracking began in just PCR cases. When adding the 348,000+ antigen positives to that figure increases past 1.5 million residents, and closer to 14% of the population.

The number of those hospitalized stood at 79,081 statewide since tracking began last February, and ICU admissions stood at 12,644.

Sadly, 146 more Georgians were reported to have died of the virus as of Wednesday afternoon’s update, bringing the overall total to 21,709. Some 3,424 people in the state are listed as probable deaths from COVID-19.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention put the national total for deaths at 675,071 on the day, surpassing the total number that was believed to be lost during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic nationwide. Figures historically have put the estimated death toll at 675,000 people from that virus that struck amid the fighting in World War I and following.

Some 42,234,211 people have tested positive for the virus nationwide, around 12% of the 333.3+ million Americans as of the latest Census figures.

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The vaccination efforts have seen some small increases in recent weeks in Polk County, the number now stands at 34% of local residents or 14,083 fully vaccinated people 12 and older locally. Some 16,685 people have gotten at least a single dose or 40% of residents.

Statewide, those figures increased to 46% in recent days for fully vaccinated Georgians, with more than 4.8 million people who have received both doses of the vaccine. At least 54% of those statewide – 5.5 million Georgians – have had the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to date.

Nationally, those figures for vaccination stand at 182 million people fully vaccinated, with 54% of the total population having both doses. Nearly 64% of people in the US have gotten a single dose.

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