Northeast Georgia is in the midst of a fourth COVID wave, and it’s causing some local agencies and hospitals to reinstate safety protocols.
Habersham County Emergency services announced Wednesday it’s closing its fire and EMS stations and headquarters to the public. Access to those facilities is now limited to department personnel and other essential workers.
“We’re going back to staff temperature checks, closing stations, and decontaminating stations,” HCES Director Chad Black tells Now Habersham. “We’re reimplementing those safety protocols and adding some new things to it.”
EMS personnel have seen a rapid increase in COVID-related calls over the past two weeks, and that’s putting a drain on already-stretched-thin healthcare professionals.
“They’re exhausted from it. I don’t know how much more they can take,” says Black.
By closing off its facilities, HCES hopes to prevent personnel from becoming infected or sick. The department can’t afford it. Before the pandemic hit, there was already a paramedic shortage, and in the past eighteen months, it’s grown worse.
“It’s getting harder and harder to find firefighters and EMTs. We just don’t have the applications of people wanting to do this anymore because of the pay, the long hours, and now COVID has added a whole different dynamic,” says Black.
Hospitals and courts affected too
Facing its own personnel shortage, Northeast Georgia Health System is also reinstating tougher protocols. This week, the region’s largest healthcare system announced that it’s implementing new visitation guidelines at its four hospitals beginning Thursday, August 5.
Habersham Medical Center in Demorest is closely monitoring COVID developments.
“We are currently enforcing the two visitors per patient limit that we have had in place. Everyone will wear masks at all times while on campus or in any of ancillary offices,” says Kesha Clinkscale of Habersham Medical Center. “If the virus continues to spread rapidly we may stop all visitation.”
Local courts, too, are tightening their safety measures. In the Mountain Judicial Circuit, which includes Habersham, Rabun, and Stephens counties, the superior court judges are requiring everyone to wear masks. Those who are COVID positive or who have been exposed to someone who is are not permitted in the courthouses or courtrooms.
Courts will implement three feet of social distancing for upcoming jury trials and other non-jury proceedings. “We will also continue to stagger proceedings to avoid crowded courtrooms,” Chief Judge Russell Smith wrote in a recent letter to court clerks, sheriffs, and attorneys.
September peak?
Health experts predict the current wave of COVID cases will peak in September, but with area schools set to reopen in just a few days, no one’s quite sure what to expect. The delta variant of COVID is affecting younger people and the unvaccinated.
Athens-Clarke County is one of the only school systems in Northeast Georgia requiring masks, despite the CDC’s recommendation.
Last week, Habersham County School Superintendent Matthew Cooper stated, “The virus will not be our focus this year. Our focus will be on our mission of ‘Success for All Students.'”
Despite all of the data pointing to an alarming trend in rising cases, mask mandates and vaccinations remain political tar pits. That’s not likely to change anytime soon.
Black is aware of the politics but adds, “My priority is to keep you safe. I advocate the vaccine.”
He says no one from the Habersham County School System or other governing bodies has reached out to him about the current COVID situation but adds, “If it continues to grow like this, we will likely have some of those meetings.”
In the meantime, he encourages people to tune out the noise on social media and “look at the facts.”
“I know about 15 people who’ve died from it, and they don’t care about percentages. They lost a loved one.”
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