MACON, Ga. — Georgia's average daily covid-19 cases have dropped by two-thirds since the peak in early January.
After the latest surge in cases, Georgia peaked at more than 23,000 new cases a day at the beginning of the year. That fell to around 7,500 by the end of the month right before the state's two-week preliminary data window. That's about the same level the state saw in mid-December. Around Thanksgiving, before cases started climbing, the state had reached less than 850 new cases a day.
In central Georgia, Bibb County is down to a quarter of the new cases at the peak in early January. Bibb topped out at 357 new cases a day after the latest surge and that dropped to 89 right before the preliminary window. Before cases started climbing, Bibb averaged just five new cases a day in November.
It's a similar story in Houston County, though case numbers are higher than in Bibb. In January, Houston peaked at 387 new cases a day. That has now dropped to 147 before the preliminary window. Houston had also gotten down to just five new cases a day before the omicron surge.
Meanwhile, fewer Georgians are dying from the virus. Right before the preliminary data window, an average of 49 Georgians died a day. That is down from 66 at the peak in late January, but it is still more than four times higher than in mid-December before the average daily death toll started rising.
For the first time since around Christmas, the state averages fewer than 200 new hospitalizations a day at 189. Hospitalization rates have not shown a clear trend over the past few months, but numbers have been hovering between 200 to 300.