COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County health officials hosted a virtual town hall Thursday to lay out the area's current COVID-19 status report and answer any questions from concerned residents.
The meeting was hosted by Cobb County Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, and featured Cobb and Douglas Public Health Director Dr. Janet Memark, and Dr. Danny Branstetter from Wellstar.
"Almost a third of all PCR tests are coming back positive right now," Memark said.
11Alive asked if contact tracing is still happening in the county.
"The cases are so extraordinarily high that it's impossible for our team to be able to follow up in every single case," explained Memark. "The CDC has recommended not following individual cases of omicron just because of the sheer numbers we’re looking at right now."
The doctor said the department is currently prioritizing high-risk cases in facilities with a lot of people.
"We’re looking at when we have a nursing home or congregate facilities or healthcare facilities or in schools or university settings -- those are the ones we're trying to focus on more due to how infectious omicron is and how it can spread very, very quickly so we're trying to act upon those as quickly as we can," she said.
This virtual town hall took place exactly one week after Cobb County Schools announced it will no longer contact trace. To note, the town hall was hosted by Cobb County government, which is a separate entity from the school district.
Memark said the department is helping the school district but not at the same capacity it used to.
“That is a school-by-school individual basis and so we are supporting the schools as best we can. I know that Cobb County schools, we’re helping them with outbreaks they’re having," she added. "So we help them and Marietta City Schools and the Douglas County school system to help them with whatever they need during this time because they’re seeing a lot of cases too during this surge. So it is still happening but it's being prioritized during this time."
Another viewer asked if the county could partner with the school district to provide at-home rapid tests for school staff, now that contact tracing is not being done the same way.
“That's an interesting question," answered chairwoman Cupid. "As this pandemic impacts county employees, impacts our schools and we’re all here dealing with the same issues so, yes, that’s an opportunity we can consider.”
Cupid also addressed parents’ recent concerns on the temporarily limited capacity at the county's aquatic centers. After signing her COVID-19 emergency declaration in December, families say it is making it harder for them to gather to cheer on the student-athletes who swim in the facilities.
"Those that are involved in Cobb County swim teams don’t have pools they can access through Cobb County schools so they’re using Cobb County government aquatic centers for a lot of their swim meets," explained Cupid. "Because we are separate jurisdictions, some of the flexibility that has been provided at Cobb County schools for their athletes does not correspond with the approach taken here at the county. Nonetheless, we listened to parents and we modified slightly the capacity of our aquatic center because we didn’t want to impact athlete ability to participate in events but it does limit (the) number of spectators that can watch athletes perform."
Dr. Branstetter discussed that Wellstar has seen a "significant rise in the number of hospitalizations," and that the omicron surge has had a "significant impact on access points for healthcare".
He added that hospitals are on diversion status, which does not mean hospitals are closed. Instead, it means they can help send emergencies to the necessary location to get the quickest, most appropriate care.
"Healthcare personnel is our biggest resource limitation," he said. "With omicron variant, our healthcare personnel are not immune."
He added that over 70% of COVID-19 patients in hospitals are unvaccinated.
"We are now seeing some of the largest numbers we've seen throughout the pandemic," he said.
To watch the town hall, click here.