This story has been updated to correct the Lowndes County Health Department’s services in regards to vaccinations.

VALDOSTA – The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients rose to 41 Tuesday, with South Georgia Medical Center reporting this is the highest number they have seen during a steady increase since late June.

Brian Dawson, chief medical officer at South Georgia Medical Center, confirmed to the Hospital Authority that while the number of patients had spiked in the beginning of the week, the hospital currently has 36 coronavirus patients, with only one under ventilation. He said that the staff had been expecting a bump in the number of cases due to summertime activities, and while the severity doesn’t appear to be as virulent as previous cases, the hospital is remaining vigilant.

“Whenever we have families go out of town during the summer and visit other places, they get exposed to things, they come back, and they bring things back home. And then of course, kids go back to school and they mingle around, so we’ve been expecting that there would be a higher rate of cases,” he said.

“We’ve seen that here, in our outpatient offices, and in the emergency department. We always would rather prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

Dawson noted the low immunization rates among current patients was cause for concern.

“For those in the hospital, 72% are not immunized, so we still recommend that people get their vaccinations. To be clear, when I say immunized, those are people who have had at least two vaccines at this point, not necessarily the booster,” he said.

Sam Allen, Hospital Authority chairman, inquired about where residents can go to get their immunizations for the COVID-19 vaccine, and Dawson confirmed that a few private doctors offices, pharmacies such as Walgreens and SGMC’s own facilities supplies vaccines. COVID vaccinations are also offered on a daily basis at the Lowndes County Health Department, as vaccines have been incorporated into the daily workflow of their General Clinic.

Dawson also took the time to address concerns about monkeypox, confirming that SGMC has not had any cases of the disease, and the hospital has a protocol in place for emergency department physicians and all regular hospital physicians in which they can call the hospital’s operator for the Infection Prevention Control nurses to begin the process of treatment and notifying the Department of Public Health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Monkeypox is a rare disease related to smallpox. African rodents and monkeys may harbor the virus; the first human case was diagnosed in 1970, according to the CDC. The county’s health department will be holding two vaccination events on Aug. 26 and Sept. 2 to help prevent the spread.

SGMC has seen a total of 542 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began, the hospital’s website shows.

Approximately 3,445 COVID-19 patients have been discharged from the facility over the last two years, statistics show.

Lowndes County has seen 16,907 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, along with 288 confirmed deaths, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. Not all SGMC patients are Lowndes County residents.

Statewide, Georgia had seen 2,164,549 confirmed cases since the pandemic’s start, with 32,611 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, the state health department said.