College-aged people could see spike in COVID-19 cases

ALBANY, Ga. – Dougherty County officials have shared encouraging stats and figures for weeks now that show that Dougherty County is doing well in it’s fight against the novel virus.

“We are at our lowest point since the beginning of the first spike. And that is a very, very, very good thing. And it took a tremendous amount of work to get to that point,” said Dougherty County Commission Chair Christopher Cohilas during a COVID-19 task force meeting.

However, local health officials are urging people to stay vigilant. Although COVID-19 deaths in the community have plummeted, cases can still rise again, especially in younger people.

“We’re seeing that many of the cases are occurring in younger aged individuals, the college-aged population,” said Dr. Steven Kitchen, Phoebe Chief Medical Officer.

Dr. Kitchen says, at this time, younger people are contracting and spreading the virus more, however they have less risk of dying from the virus.

“And the truth of the matter is, that’s going to be a healthier population,” says Dr. Kitchen, “That’s a lower risk population and so some of that decline in the mortality rate is I think, correlated with the demographics.”

Mayor Bo Dorough says to be mindful of visitors to help keep you and your community safe.

“They can make other people sick, other people who are the medically vulnerable so what we need to do, I encourage you to do, is exercise precautions.”

Currently, there are a total of 62 new cases of the virus within the last 2 weeks.