Experts warn the COVID-19 variant that is now in GA is more contagious
ATLANTA - Health experts are warning about a new COVID-19 variant that is now in Georgia.
The 18-year-old who has it is isolating at home, according to the Georgia Department of Health
Dr. Carlos Del Rio, professor of medicine at Emory University Hospital, said the new strain doesn't show signs of more severe symptoms, but the big issue is the fact that it appears to be more contagious.
"It's scary because hospitals are full and we have a lot of sick people so having more transmissions is actually not good," Dr. Del Rio said.
Sign up for FOX 5 email alerts
This could mean trouble since health experts expect to see a post-holiday increase in positive cases.
"On an individual level it doesn't matter but on a population, it makes a huge difference. Instead of having 10 people infected you now have 50. If one out of every 10 gets sick, well instead of having one sick person, now you're going to have five sick people," Dr. Del Rio said.
Thankfully, Dr. Rios said health experts believe the vaccine will be just as effective.
The issue, however, is a speedy rollout of the vaccine. This could mean testing is available.
"Public health is having to make decisions like, do I vaccine or do I test? I don't have enough staff to do both," Dr. Del Rio said.
WATCH: FOX 5 Atlanta live news coverage
The DeKalb County Board of Health announced the cancellations of all scheduled COVID-19 testing appointments through Saturday to focus on giving vaccinations.
Dr. Del Rio said it's a call health officials currently have no choice but to make due to the lack of resources.
"We spend all this money developing the vaccine but we spend no money delivering the vaccine," he said.
Download the FOX 5 Atlanta app for breaking news and weather alerts.