Athens hospital officials call for coronavirus vaccinations

The Chief Medical Officer at Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center says 95 percent of coronavirus patients at the hospital on Prince Avenue are unvaccinated. Dr Robert Sinyard is calling on more people in Athens to get their shots. The Georgia Department of Public Health says 40 percent of Athens-Clarke County residents are considered fully vaccinated against COVID 19.

Hall County Commissioners meet this evening in Gainesville: they are expected to vote on a package of incentives designed to increase Hall County’s coronavirus vaccination rate. Only about one-third of Hall County residents have received both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID 19 vaccines, or the single dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

Some Georgia school districts are already shutting down classrooms because of COVID. Students are learning virtually in Randolph County, while Talbot County schools switched to remote learning for the first few days of this week. Football practice is suspended in Sumter County schools in Americus. And upwards of 11 hundred students are in quarantine after more than 200 coronavirus cases were confirmed in Savannah-Chatham County schools.

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