The state’s Covid cases and hospitalizations have dipped over the past week, Georgia health officials have reported.

But that drop isn’t relieving the pressure on the front lines of hospitals — both smaller facilities and large urban centers.

Take Appling Healthcare, which operates a rural hospital of 34 beds in Baxley, in southeast Georgia.

The entire group of patients in the hospital as of Thursday afternoon have Covid.

“I have been in nursing for ...

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Vaccines and masks are two powerful weapons that people can use against Covid-19.

But Georgia is failing to use those weapons effectively, a new GHN Commentary argues.

Dr. Harry Heiman, a public health expert at Georgia State University, says that with so many Covid outbreaks in schools, “all kindergarten through Grade 12 schools should institute vaccine mandates for teachers and staff and mask mandates for students, teachers and staff.’’

The University System of ...

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About 60 percent of current Covid outbreaks in Georgia are occurring in K-12 schools across the state, public health officials said Tuesday.

That’s seven times more than the child outbreaks in previous virus surges, Cherie Drenzek, the state epidemiologist, told the board of the Department of Public Health.

Cases, hospitalizations and deaths among children have reached their highest levels during the current surge of the pandemic, she added. And many of the ...

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Georgia hospital officials were scrambling Friday to gauge the impact of President Biden’s order for health care workers to get vaccinated for Covid-19.

The mandate would apply to health care facilities that treat Medicare and Medicaid patients – virtually all hospitals – as well as dialysis centers, surgery centers and home care operations.

(Nursing homes already face such a vaccination requirement.)

The new order, if it ultimately takes effect, would appear to end ...

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