Two weeks into the school year, cases of COVID-19 are up sharply among Clayton County’s children. Children ages 10 through 19 are the most severely affected, but kids from o through 9 also are catching the virus.
According to the latest data from the Clayton County Health District and Georgia Department of Public Health, which covers the week of August 12-18, 2022, a slight increase among people in their 50s also was recorded.
For the week ending Sunday, August 22, Clayton County has seen 65,389 cases of COVID-19 and 942 Clayton County residents have died of the disease since the pandemic began. Last week, 450 new tests came back positive. 6.8% of positive cases were hospitalized last week.
More than 1 in every 5 PCR tests came back positive (20.7%).
More than two years into the epidemic, 50% of Clayton County residents are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 55% have gotten at least one dose, while 41% have gotten a booster shot and 20% have had an additional dose. 58.4% of women and 51.9 percent of men in Clayton County have had at least one shot.
Jonesboro (30.3%) and Riverdale (21.1%) account for more than half the cases countywide. Jonesboro residents accounted for 130 new cases last week, while 86 Riverdale residents tested positive.
Hospitalizations in the past 14 days jumped 15% over the previous two-week period.
Women make up 57.9% of the county’s COVID-19 cases. People ages 30 to 39 are hardest-hit overall. However, 38.6 percent of cases have struck children ages 0 through 19. Overall, 60% of cases affect Black residents.
Deaths by age group are as follows:
- Ages 0-9: 2
- Ages 10-19: 3
- Ages 20-29: 13
- Ages 30-39: 45
- Ages 40-49: 60
- Ages 50-59: 145
- Ages 60-69: 238
- Ages 70 and up: 436
Deaths by race and ethnicity include:
- 612 non-Hispanic/Latino Blacks
- 4 Hispanic/Latino Blacks
- 38 non-Hispanic/Latino Asians
- 203 non-Hispanic /Latino whites
- 38 Hispanic/Latino whites
- 8 unknown or other
- 13 other non-Hispanic Latino
- 27 other Hispanic/Latino
Of the 450 people who got COVID-19 last week:
- 378 were unvaccinated
- 19 were partially vaccinated
- 120 were fully vaccinated
- 67 were fully vaccinated and boosted
Of the 31 people who were hospitalizes last week with COVID-19:
- 18 were unvaccinated
- 2 were partially vaccinated
- 5 were fully vaccinated
- 6 were fully vaccinated and boosted
None of the three hospitalized people who died of COVID-19 in Clayton County last week were vaccinated.
If you have questions about where to get tested or whether you should consider the COVID-19 vaccine, visit the Clayton County Heath District’s website or call (678) 610-7199.
If you want to make an appointment for the monkeypox vaccine, sign up on the Georgia Department of Health’s website at https://gta-vras.powerappsportals.us/en-US/.