About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 2020)
As travel slump worsens, Delta - - sW-a increases number of workers ’ i . m * m on unpaid leave, insider Thursday, December 10,2020 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Hall cancels trials again over virus BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Hall County court officials decided Wednesday, Dec. 9, to cancel January trial weeks as the number of COVID-19 hospital izations continues to climb. Court administrator Jason Stephenson said the Superior Court judges agreed Wednesday to cancel the first two weeks of January trials, which were set for Jan. 4 and Jan. 11. Stephenson said the decision came after “the number of new cases being reported, rising hospitalizations, and out of a concern that the holidays could accelerate those trends.” Northeast Georgia Health System reported a new record Wednesday of 217 confirmed COVID-19-positive patients being treated across its facilities, with another 58 patients awaiting test results. According to the data, 128 of those patients are at the Gainesville hospital. This is the second cancellation of jury trials in two weeks for the Hall courthouse. Court officials canceled the Nov. 30 jury trial week on Nov. 25. There have been no jury trials since the judicial emergency orders announced in March. Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold D. Melton signed the ninth order Wednesday, Dec. 9, extending the state wide judicial emergency until 11:59 p.m. Jan. 8. “Recent public health reports indicate that COVID-19 conditions are worsening dramatically in many parts of the state,” Melton wrote. “While this order does not impose a blanket shutdown of non-essential in-person court proceedings, courts should remain vigilant of changing COVID-19 con ditions and be prepared to suspend jury trials as necessary and to reconsider grand jury proceedings as well. ” Stephenson said one trial week is sched uled to start Jan. 19, and the decision will be made in a few weeks on whether it will go forward. Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Lee Darragh said his office expects a heavy schedule once jury trials can resume. “The problem is that we don’t know when that’s going to be feasible, and we’ll just have to take it from week to week, month to month, until we get to more nor malcy than we’ve had,” he said. Grand jury sessions, however, have con tinued with the plan to meet weekly. Dar ragh said they will meet once more next week and then resume in January. Stephenson said last month they have closed out roughly 1,400 fewer Superior Court cases compared to this time last year. Court officials asked the Hall County board of commissioners this week to allow them to use the North Hall Community Center for State Court trials and said it could help reduce the backlog. ‘The problem is that we don’t know when that’s going to be feasible, and we’ll just have to take it from week to week, month to month, until we get to more normalcy than we’ve had.’ Lee Darragh, Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Running out of space Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times NGHS officials meet inside a gymnasium at Laurelwood Wednesday, Dec. 9, where cots are set up for COVID-19 patients as the system sees a new record of COVID-19 patients and is running out of space. Cots set up in gym as NGHS seeks beds for COVID patients BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Northeast Georgia Health System is preparing an over flow treatment space as it hit another new record of COVID- 19-positive patients on Wednes day, Dec. 9. The system was treating 217 COVID-19 patients on Wednes day, its highest number since the pandemic began and the fourth day over 200 in a week’s time. At the health system’s Bra- selton and Barrow hospitals, no beds were open Wednes day. Northeast Georgia Medi cal Center Gainesville had 24 available beds, with only one bed in the intensive care unit available and another 100 occupied. Dr. Clifton Hastings, chief of medical staff at NGMC, said patients who are less critical are sometimes transferred to the Barrow or Lumpkin hospi tals. The system is preparing an overflow treatment space in a gym at Laurelwood, a mental health facility on the NGMC Gainesville campus, Hastings said. About 25 to 30 cots will be moved into Laurelwood, and that space will hopefully open next week, Hastings said. “We are seeing the surge that was predicted. We are weathering it but we really don’t have any capacity at this point,” Hastings said on a call with the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. “We’re just making do ... It’s a pretty significant situation that we’re dealing with.” NGMC Gainesville already has a mobile unit near its North Tower with 20 beds. The Gainesville and Braselton hospitals have tents outside for extra treatment space. NGHS announced new visi tation policies for its hospitals Wednesday. For COVID-19 patients, the system changed visitation from three days a week to just Saturday. As of Wednesday, Hall County has seen 13,614 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and 1,475 of those cases have been reported within the past two weeks, according to data from the Georgia Depart ment of Public Health. There have been 1,331 hospitaliza tions in Hall County, according to the state. Dr. Zachary Taylor, direc tor for District 2 of the health department, said the surge seems to be driven by smaller gatherings of extended family and friends. There have also been some outbreaks at long term care facilities and places of worship, he said. “It is not connected to any particular ethnic group or race. It is all over,” Taylor said Wednesday. In most cases, students do not appear to be contracting COVID-19 from school, Taylor said. “Obviously, we have cases in our schools, but frankly, most of the cases we see in students at school, those students were infected in the community,” Taylor said. “They weren’t infected in the schools, and schools are doing a good job at preventing transmission.” Four Hall County schools have canceled in-person instruction in the past week, and a school system spokes man has said the system believes transmission occurred on those school campuses. Hall’s microtransit service to launch Monday, Dec. 14 WeGo What: New Hall Area Transit service similar to Lyft or Uber, with riders using an app to schedule trips When: Service launches on Monday, Dec. 14 How much: $3 per one-way trip, payable through an app. People can use cash to buy WeGo vouchers by calling 770-503-3333 and pressing Option 1. Operating hours: 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the exception of major holidays Downloading the app: Available on Apple and Android devices. Look for “WeGo powered by Via.” More info: 770-503-3333 BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Need a ride? Beginning Monday, you can use Hall County public transit’s WeGo instead of taking an Uber or Lyft. Hall Area Transit’s new microtransit service is set to launch Dec. 14, officials have announced. Beginning with five vehi cles operating only in Gaines ville, WeGo will function much like Uber or Lyft, with people requesting rides using an app available on Apple or Android devices. One-way trips cost $3. Users will need to set up a WeGo account on their phones, where they can pay for the service. The service will expand to 15 vehicles in July 2021, when it starts covering the rest of Hall County, said Phil- lippa Lewis Moss, director of Gainesville-Hall County Community Services. Instead of scheduling trips two to three days in advance — which is how the transit service’s Dial-A-Ride operates — passengers can request and track same-day trips on their smartphone. “The WeGo van will come straight to your location,” a news release states. The vehicles are equipped ■ Please see TRANSIT, 4A Photo courtesy Gainesville-Hall Community Service Center WeGo will be operated through the public Hall County Transit and function much like Uber or Lyft.
