'What You Need To Know: Coronavirus' With Virginia Prescott Featuring Andy Miller

Across Georgia and the nation, schools and businesses are closed, major events have been canceled and millions of people have been ordered to work from home to help mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus — or COVID-19. Life as we know it has been disrupted. People are scared and looking for solid information.

Georgia Public Broadcasting’s new series “What You Need To Know: Coronavirus” provides fact-based information on getting through the virus with health and sanity intact. 

The coronavirus pandemic reached a turning point over the weekend when the number of deaths from COVID-19 outside of China exceeded those inside China. That shifts to the focus to Europe and the U.S. We got an update on the local numbers and testing plans from Andy Miller, CEO and editor of Georgia Health News.

How many confirmed cases of COVID-19 now in Georgia?

As of 1 p.m. Monday, there were 121 confirmed cases in Georgia. That’s up from less than 10 a week ago and 99 cases reported on Sunday. Miller expects that number will go up as testing becomes more widespread. 

The Federal Government says nearly 2 million test kits will be available this week across the US. Any concrete plans for when we could see mobile testing units in GA? 

Valdosta Hospital has started a drive-through testing clinic in South Georgia, and Phoebe Putney in southwest Georgia is planning to do the same. I still think we don’t have enough test kits. The State has talked about establishing testing centers and that plan is supposed to be rolled out this week. 

Any signs of restrictions on public gatherings of more than 50 people, or restaurant, bar, and retail closures that have been imposed in some states harder hit by the virus? 

We haven’t seen them yet. The governor has declared a public health emergency which would give him more powers to create bans like that, but basically he has let the school systems decide whether to stay open or not and businesses as well. I think in the coming days we could see more stronger action and more requirements from the state of businesses. 

How about hospitals? Here in Georgia we have big metropolitan centers and small rural counties, some without any hospitals at all. Where is the state in looking at readiness now? 

All the hospitals have  gone through emnergency preparation plans. Some of the bigger systems like Emory have postponed elective surgeries so they can get get staff and equipment ready for an influx of COVID-19 patients. I’m also hearing from doctors and hospitals that are concerned that there is not enough protective equipment for them. That equipment is scarce, they are having trouble ordering it and you need a lot of it to combat an infection like this. 

That’s a real worry for hospital administrators and staff because you don’t want to get doctors and nurses and technicians at hospitals to get sick and take them out of the system. 

I know you are not a doctor, but there has been some confusion about what people should do if they think they’ve been exposed to the virus or are exhibiting symptoms. What does the state recommend for someone who thinks they might be sick? 

One recommendation is that someone who may have mild symptoms is to not go to the emergency room, but to call state officials and their local medical provider and get guidance from them. It’s the people seeing real spikes in temperature and respiratory symptoms...those are the people we really need to be treating on the front line. The recommendation is that they should do the same, but they are likely to be seen quicker than someone with pretty mild symptoms. 

What are you watching now as new cases are emerging and people hunkering down in their homes? 

Everybody expects to see more cases and I think that’s going to happen as testing ramps up. We’re going to see a real burden on health care providers, whether it’s a hospital or small doctor’s office perhaps, so we’re waiting to see what the real numbers are. We really don't have a clue as to how much COVID-19 is out there in our communities. What the government is doing, what Gov. Kemp is doing, what businesses are doing is getting ready for something that is going to have a real impact on our state.