ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey shared a simple message Thursday at a news conference: Do not wait to get vaccinated.
He said the way the state is receiving monoclonal antibody treatments has changed from providers being able to get them from the distributor, to the state receiving a weekly allocation to distribute to providers.
According to Kemp, the weekly number of treatments the state is being allocated is declining week-over-week, but antibody treatments are second only to vaccination.
He urged Georgians not to let up the fight, and said the state could see another big wave this fall or winter, just like a year ago.
He asked unvaccinated Georgians to speak with doctors or other healthcare professionals about getting the shot soon.
He also reported some good news over the past week. New COVID cases are down by a third, and so are hospitalizations and cases among school-age kids.
As of Sept. 29, 46% of eligible Georgians have yet to be vaccinated, 47% of eligible Georgians are fully vaccinated, and 7% of eligible Georgians are in between their first and second doses.
10,475,833 total vaccines have been administered to date; an increase of 22,485 from the previous day.
Georgia reported more than 3,300 confirmed cases of COVID Wednesday, but overall, the cases are declining. Georgia's weekly positivity rate is still around 11%.
Luckily, COVID patient numbers continue to fall each day. We're back down to just above 3,400 which is a lot lower than our latest peak.
Wednesday's COVID patient number represents about 20% of all patients in the state. The Center for Disease Control wants the percentage below that to ensure there's not a serious strain on our resources.