“It’s Hitting Everywhere” — Hospital Staff Sounds Alarm After Kemp Declares Anti-Mask Order

Today, a devastating piece from Georgia Public Broadcasting reported that at the front lines of Georgia’s coronavirus crisis, hospital staff at hospitals in Macon are “overrun with patients” and forced to send patients up to 850 miles away due to bed shortages as COVID numbers spike:

“[Patients] were lined up along the walls in the ER,” a health care worker inside a Navicent Health-owned hospital in middle Georgia told GPB News. “We never have had an influx like that. Since the Fourth of July, it has just exploded.”

The piece comes after weeks of Brian Kemp’s reckless reopening of the state against public health guidance, and yesterday’s dangerous order to overrule local mask orders and stop local mayors from enacting public health guidelines that keep Georgians safe. From GPB:

“Georgia has seen coronavirus cases skyrocket as residents have gone about business as usual in recent weeks. Cases have topped 127,000, and more than 3,000 lives have been taken. Just three weeks ago, the overall cases stood at 69,000. […] The recent surge has strained hospitals, and many are running out of intensive care beds, […]

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported nearly 2,800 hospitalizations, with 84% of critical care beds occupied. Nearly 1,100 patients were on ventilators, GEMA said.”

As Georgia rapidly approaches Florida- and Arizona- level case surges, disease experts have warned that without aggressive action, the state is running out of time.

Read the full piece from Georgia Public Broadcasting here.

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