August 30, 2021–9:06 p.m.
STAFF REPORTS
We are seeing the highest number of weekly outbreaks since the pandemic began, with more than half the outbreaks occurring in K-12 schools.
Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, spoke Monday about the significant number of cases among school-aged children.
“Those numbers of cases have really quadrupled over the last several weeks,” she said. “The sharpest increase, the highest number of cases, is among children aged 11 to 17. The hospitalization numbers, while higher, are still not to the point where they are with adult hospitalizations. What I think is happening is that children are getting infected and are transmitting the virus to family members. So, children can transmit the virus and they are becoming infected.”
Dr. Toomey continued to urge everyone who is eligible to get the vaccine.
“The vaccine, all three of them, work very well in protecting against the Delta variant,” she said. “I can’t say this enough, but vaccination is our tool to get us out of this pandemic.”
She added the hospitalizations and deaths we are seeing are largely those who are unvaccinated.