Health & Fitness

Coronavirus In GA: 300-plus More Cases But Only 4 New Deaths

As coronavirus testing accelerates, Georgia Department of Public Health reported on Friday more than 300 new cases but only four new deaths.

ATLANTA, GA — As testing accelerates for the coronavirus, the Georgia Department of Public Health reported 32,061 cases of COVID-19 at 1:30 p.m. Friday, up more than 300 from the same time Thursday.

There may also be good news for now: Only four new deaths were reported in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 1,360. That doesn't necessarily indicate a trend, though, because the most recent available numbers don't always reflect the facts on the ground.

Georgia reports 227,477 tests as of midday Friday, with about 14 percent of them testing positive. After Gov. Brian Kemp’s announcement Thursday that testing would be available to everyone, the number of tests reported is expected to quickly increase, giving state officials a better idea of how the disease has spread.

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Fulton County leads the state with 3,302 cases, followed by DeKalb County with 2,436, Gwinnett County with 2,320, Cobb County with 2,068, Hall County with 1,996 and Dougherty County with 1,574. Fulton has the highest death count at 137, followed by Dougherty County with 125 and Cobb County with 109.

Find out what's happening in Across Georgiafor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The public health website provides graphs of cumulative cases and deaths over time. Numbers over the last 14 days may be incomplete due to cases not yet reported as well as pending test results.

"A confirmed case is defined as a person who has tested positive for 2019 novel coronavirus," says the Georgia Department of Health. "Health care providers diagnose patients with COVID-19 and they, along with laboratories, report the COVID-19 cases to the Georgia DPH. These numbers are preliminary and may change as more information is gathered on a person under investigation."

Globally, more than 3.9 million people have been infected by COVID-19, and more than 272,000 people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Friday at noon. In the U.S., more than 1.2 million people have been infected and more than 76,000 people have died from COVID-19.

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