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DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I AUGUST 11,2021 DaWSOflNeWS ’COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00
‘It’s something we’re watching closely’
Local health experts discuss the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant in North Georgia
By Erica Schmidt
eschmidt@dawsonnews.com
The COVID-19 delta variant
has recently come to the fore
front of headlines and news
coverage as medical profes
sionals continue the battle.
Here’s what local experts say
you should know about the
delta variant of the virus.
According to Dr. Larry
Anderson, chairman for the
Dawson County Health Board
and physician at Anderson
Family Medicine, the delta
variant is a mutation of the
COVID-19 virus.
“The delta is a variant of the
COVID-19, it’s not a new dif
ferent COVID;” Anderson said.
“It has to do with the proteins
that are on the virus; it mutates
a little bit.”
Natasha Young, public infor
mation officer for the
Department of Public Health
District 2, said that the delta
variant seems to be more conta
gious than previous strains of
the virus.
“It is a new COVID strain
and it is more than twice as
easily spread from one person
to another compared to earlier
strains, so it has become the
predominant variant since May
2021,” Young said.
Both Anderson and Young
said that the symptoms of the
delta variant are similar to the
original COVID-19 virus, so
the two can come across as
identical.
"The symptoms are the same;
you can’t tell from the symp
toms if it’s the variant or not,
but most of these rapid testing
does not differentiate between
the COVID virus and the
delta,” Anderson said. “The
COVID-19 variant seems to be
a little bit more contagious than
COVID-19, but it doesn’t seem
at this point to be any more vir
ulent.”
Young added that while the
arrival of the delta variant has
contributed to a spike in
COVID-19 cases, the
Department of Public Health
doesn’t keep records of which
strain patients who test positive
may have.
“We don’t have any data,
specifically on the number of
Delta infections in our area;
that’s not something that they
map out for us, they just know
that someone has been infected
with COVID,” Young said. “It’s
all over Georgia; nationally we
are seeing an increase of over
300% from June 19 to July 23,
so it’s just something that we’re
watching closely.”
According to the Department
of Public Health website,
See Delta 12A
Back to school, back to ‘normal’
H
K
Photos by Erica Schmidt Dawson County News
Parents line up their cars outside of Dawson County Middle School to drop off students for the first day of the
2021-22 school year on the morning of Friday, Aug. 6.
Photos from the first day of in-person classes after a year at home
Council OKs
Moonshine
Festival permit
By Erica Schmidt
eschmidt@dawsonnews.com
The 54th annual Mountain Moonshine
Festival is moving ahead full steam, after
receiving final approval for its permit by
the Dawsonville City Council this week.
The board voted 3-1, with Council
Member John Walden opposed, to
approve the yearly festival’s permit at the
council’s regular meeting held on
Monday, Aug. 2.
K.A.R.E. for Kids personnel have been
working with the Dawsonville Food Lion
management to figure out details of park
ing and what spaces in the store’s parking
lot can be used, according to K.A.R.E.
for Kids Executive Director Tiffany
Buchan. Buchan said that Food Lion
management has been agreeable to
See Permit 13A
Smith named
editor of DCN
From DCN Staff
By Erica Schmidt
eschmidt@dawsonnews.com
On the morning of Friday,
Aug. 6, children from all over
Dawson County boarded buses
or sat in carpool lines to offi
cially go back to school for the
fall semester of the 2021-22
school year. Following a
school year unlike any other in
2020, teachers and other
school administrators
expressed relief to be back to
“normal” with a new school
year. Dawson County News
visited two local schools to
capture photos of the first day
back to school in Dawson
County.
See School 17A
Students walk into Dawson County Middle School on the first day of the 2021-22
school year on the morning of Friday, Aug. 6
Dawson County News Reporter Jacob
Smith has been named to lead the
Dawsonville-based newspaper starting on
Monday, Aug. 9, follow
ing former DCN Editor
Alexander Popp’s recent
promotion to a leading
role at the paper’s parent
company, Metro Market
Media.
Smith, a University of
North Georgia alumni,
joined the Dawson
County News in March
of 2020 as a part-time sports reporter and
quickly established himself as a charis
matic, trusted journalist in the North
Georgia sports world. Smith has worked
as a full-time reporter for the DCN and its
See Smith| 3A
Smith
0
9 0 9 9 4
Inside
Volume 7, Number 29
© 2021, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
2A
Classifieds
7B
Dear Abby
6B
Deaths
2A
Legals
8B
Opinion
5A
Sports
1B
7A Kemp defends
approch
to fighting
COVID-19
3A Empty Bowl
Lunch returns
Sept. 21
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