VALDOSTA – South Georgia Medical Center reported another decline in the number of COVID-19 patients during the past couple of weeks.

The number of patients stayed in the high 20s to low 30s range during the first half of the month, and has now reached a new low of 14 as of Wednesday, with Dr. Brian Dawson, chief medical officer, saying during the Hospital Authority of Valdosta-Lowndes County meeting that these cases are “not severe enough to the point of requiring ventilation.”

The hospital had seen a peak in coronavirus cases starting with the holiday season of 2021, when the omicron variant began surging throughout the country. The numbers shot up to the triple digits during the new year, with a reported 180 patients being admitted to SGMC in a matter of days – though the highest one-day total was 112 patients hospitalized.

Coming off of the heels of the second anniversary of SGMC’s first confirmed COVID-19 patient March 13, 2020, Dawson said he was happy to note the situation is more certain and stable than it appeared two years ago.

“We’re very pleased to see the continued decline of virus-related patients,” Dawson said. “We’re seeing some spikes in other countries however, so we’re closely monitoring that to help us prepare in the event of another resurgence.”

Despite the number of cases dropping, Ronald Dean, SGMC president and chief executive office, made it clear that vigilance remains critical regarding personal protective equipment.

“There have been discussions within the community and the staff about when it is safe to not have to wear masks in the hospital. We’re not quite there yet. Our outlook is pretty optimistic but it’s important to remember that we’re not out of the woods just yet,” he said.

Dawson added the Centers for Disease Control has been careful not to make premature recommendations for doing away with masks.

“I think what the CDC does not want to do is what happened just before the delta variant where they said people in the community can stop wearing masks and then a few weeks later another strain spikes the number of COVID patients,” he said.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, Lowndes County has seen more than 15,173 cases of COVID-19, with 378 cases resulting in death.

As of the middle of this week, the GDHP reported that statewide COVID-19 cases were up to 1,919,970, up by 5,970 cases. Georgia has reported 30,485 virus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic.