Source: South Georgia Medical Center

VALDOSTA – Dr. Brian Dawson is always concerned but does not see his hospital in “dire straits” because of COVID-19.

Dawson, chief medical officer at South Georgia Medical Center, said while the number of COVID-19 patients hit new highs this week – jumping from 40 Monday to 63 Thursday – the hospital is comfortable treating the current influx.

“We are prepared there will be an increase. In our line of work, we expect the worst and hope for the best,” he said.

SGMC experienced a jump in coronavirus patients earlier during the pandemic – 30 patients April 9 – that helped season the hospital for any rebounds after a two-month period of low COVID-19 patient numbers, Dawson said.

As of Thursday morning, 17 of the 63 coronavirus patients in the hospital were in the SGMC ICU and six were on ventilators, Dawson said. The average age of a COVID-19 patient at SGMC at the time was 62.7 years old, he said.

The gender distribution of the hospital’s COVID-19 patients is fairly even with a 50/50 split in the medical surgical units, 47% female and 53% male in the ICU and 49% female and 51% in the rest of the hospital, he said.

Bed capacity for COVID-19 patients at the hospital had previously been cited as 96, according to SGMC officials, and Dawson explained SGMC’s capacity is fluid when non-coronavirus patients could be moved to Smith-Northview if more space is needed. That has not happened at this time, he said.

In Lowndes County, 45 more COVID-19 cases were confirmed Thursday, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health daily status report.

The county has reported a total of 1,743 cases since the start of the outbreak, according to the report. 

As of Thursday, 102 Lowndes residents have been hospitalized due to COVID-19, since the start of the outbreak, according to the report.

The South Health District still reports 15 Lowndes residents have died from the virus, according to its COVID-19 update.

The South Health District has performed 13,869 coronavirus tests throughout its 10 counties as of Thursday, according to the district COVID-19 website.

SGMC was treating 63 confirmed COVID-19 patients, according to its daily report.

SGMC had discharged 201 COVID-19 patients and had one patient waiting for testing results, according to the report. 

Thirty-four SGMC patients have died since the outbreak of the virus. Again, not all SGMC patients are Lowndes County residents.

For more data on Lowndes and the surrounding counties, The Valdosta Daily Times has created a database to track COVID-19 across the South Health District.

To reach the database, click the link here.

This story was updated at 3:18 p.m. July 10.