Gov. Kemp providing an update on COVID-19 in Georgia Monday. In addition to increasing the number of tests performed in the state, Kemp said a main priority is increasing the number of hospital beds in the state to prepare for the coming surge.
“Recently, we secured commitments from many Georgia hospitals to convert hundreds of rooms into critical care space,” Kemp said. “Just a few days ago, Piedmont Healthcare announced an early opening of Marcus Tower to bring 132 hospital beds online - including sixty-four ICU beds - for COVID-19 patients. This expanded capacity at healthcare facilities across Georgia, and now with new construction at the Georgia World Congress Center, gives us flexibility ahead of the peak.”
According to updated projections from The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Georgia's peak hospital use will be May 1 and peak deaths in Georgia will be May 3, with a shortage of ICU beds coming by the end of the week.
“We have 2,617 emergency room beds, 929 critical care beds, and nearly 6,000 general inpatient beds available statewide. By the end of this week, we hope to provide this bed capacity update daily to the public.”
The governor did announce a 200-bed surge capacity hospital is being constructed at the Georgia World Congress Center.
