Crime & Safety
GA Coronavirus: Testing Criteria Expanded, 480 Deaths Reported
More than 13,000 cases of the coronavirus are reported in Georgia Monday, with 480 deaths reported. Gov. Kemp has ordered expanded testing.
GEORGIA — The Georgia Department of Public Health reported 306 more cases of coronavirus and 16 more deaths in the last six hours with numbers released Monday evening. Confirmed coronavirus cases total 13,621 statewide as of about 6:30 p.m. Monday, with 2,702 hospitalizations and 480 deaths reported.
During his Monday afternoon briefing, Gov. Brian Kemp said that Dr. Kathleen Toomey of the GDPH had directed health departments throughout the state to make themselves available for testing. Kemp also said that testing criteria would be expanded to "critical infrastructure workers" with symptoms, as well as asymptomatic individuals who've been exposed to those with COVID-19 or their families.
To date, Georgia has tested more than 57,000 people for the coronavirus, with most tests conducted by private vendors.
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Fulton County has recorded the most cases thus far, with 1,635 cases and 52 deaths. Dougherty County in southwest Georgia, where Albany is the site of the state's worst hotspot, is second with 1,245 cases but has recorded 78 deaths, more than any other Georgia county.
The other three counties in the top five are all in metro Atlanta: Dekalb, with 1,006 cases and 15 deaths; Cobb, with 816 cases and 36 deaths; and Gwinnett, with 766 cases and 24 deaths. Glascock and Taliaferro are the only counties yet to report any coronavirus cases.
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Complicating matters further, severe weather swept through the southeast early Monday morning, killing at least eight people in Georgia and 18 region wide. At 8:30 a.m. Monday, Kemp issued a state of emergency for all of Georgia because of storm damage. This is an addition to an earlier state of emergency Kemp issued to deal with the coronavirus, set to last until May 13.
Those who believe they are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, are asked to call their primary-care doctor first and to not show up at an emergency room or doctor's office unannounced. Georgians also can call the state's coronavirus hotline at 844-442-2681 to share information and contact medical professionals. For more information, visit Georgia's coronavirus information website.
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