MACON, Ga. — Georgia's COVID-19 case curve has what appears to be a third peak now that cases have continued to drop since early January.
At the latest peak on January 8th, Georgia averaged 7,096 new cases a day. In just 10 days, that dropped to around 4,960 right outside the state's two-week preliminary window. Even then, cases still outpaced numbers from the previous peak in July at 4,460 new cases a day.
The rise and fall of this latest surge is almost the exact opposite from what Georgia experienced in the summer. Cases spiked from May to July, and it took much longer for those numbers to drop. Then, Georgia experienced a slow, steady climb from the end of September until the latest peak in January, but then cases started to drop pretty quickly.
Data from the Georgia Department of Health shows a slight slowdown in the drop within the preliminary window, but it is too soon to really rely on that data since the state is still receiving test results from that time.
Bibb and Houston counties saw similar drops in their curves. Bibb topped out near 101 cases on January 10th and dropped down to 66 about a week later. Houston had a similar drop from 104 at the beginning of the month to 68 new cases just outside the preliminary window.
However, some counties like Baldwin and Laurens already show increases within the preliminary window, and tallies within that time typically go up as more test results get added in.
Peach, Monroe, and Washington counties saw similar increases in the last two weeks.
COVID-19 hospitalizations did not continue to drop from last week. It's not a drastic shift, but Georgia averaged less than 250 new patients a day around the 22nd of January. Within about a week, that climbed back up to nearly 276 That is still an improvement from the record 308 new patients in mid-January.
Meanwhile, fewer people are dying from the virus following a surge in deaths that lasted until mid-January.
On January 13th, Georgia reached an all-time high of 85 deaths a day on average. Less than a week later, right before the preliminary window, the average death toll fell to nearly 72. That's just shy of the previous peak of 75 in mid-August.