Dougherty County officials say COVID-19 pandemic ‘stable’ in community

ALBANY, Ga. – Georgia endured its deadliest day last week during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in Southwest Georgia, we continue to see deaths as well.

Four additional COVID-19 deaths in Dougherty County. 173 residents in total have died from coronavirus in the area. Dougherty County is in the top five for COVID-19 deaths in the state. However, 72% of the coronavirus deaths happened in late March and early April.

“Initially we had such a tremendous onslaught of the virus within the community that we had this enormous spike that happened,” said Dougherty County Commission Chairman, Chris Cohilas.

And since that time, the death rate has dropped.

“We continue to see that our death rate is not spiking, we are protecting the people we need to protect.”

Additionally, Phoebe officials say that COVID-19 cases have plateaued. 

“Although we certainly began seeing an upward trend in terms of the number of COVID positive patients that require hospitalization over the last several weeks, it seems to be relatively stable without any significant changes compared to last week,” said Phoebe’s chief medical officer Dr. Steven Kitchen.

Phoebe reports that hospitalizations have been hovering around 60-70. Currently, the hospital is treating 70 patients across their health system.

“We are certainly seeing COVID-19 transmission in our community and a certain percentage of those persons are requiring admission to the hospital it looks relatively stable.”