Patients Turned Away At Wellstar Douglas Because Of Overcrowding

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — Wellstar Douglas Hospital’s emergency room is “severely overcrowded” and in a state of “total diversion” — in other words, as of Monday, it’s not accepting any emergency patients and instead is sending them elsewhere.

That’s according to the Georgia Coordinating Center (GCC) website, which tracks hospital activity to guide ambulance services.

The GCC was established in 2019 after flooding at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta severely damaged its emergency room, limiting its ability to accept ambulance traffic. GCC's website posts capacity information from Georgia hospitals, with the busiest facilities updating their status regularly.

Last week, Cobb & Douglas Public Health Director Dr. Janet Memark drew a straight line between packed hospitals and unvaccinated Georgians.

“If you look throughout the country, where you see higher rates of vaccination, you see lower rates of hospitalization,” Memark said in an interview with Douglas County spokesperson Rick Martin.

Is it true unvaccinated people are being hit the hardest?

“It’s absolutely true,” Memark said. “We are seeing number that are 93 percent or greater (in hospitals throughout Georgia) who are unvaccinated folks.”

For information on where to be tested for or vaccinated against COVID-19 in Douglas County, visit the Cobb & Douglas Public Health website.

For a list of Georgia hospitals and their capacity to accept new or emergency patients, visit the Georgia Coordinating Center's website.