More Than Half Of Nursing Home Residents Recover From Coronavirus

ACROSS GEORGIA — Instead of the usual doom and gloom, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp had hopeful news to pass along to Georgians this week. He announced that 3,269 long-term care facility residents diagnosed with the coronavirus have recovered.

That represents more than half of the long-term care residents (6,259) who tested positive for the coronavirus.

The recovered residents data is the cumulative number of residents who tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began. Their recovery is based on subsequent negative tests, the absence of symptoms and other criteria.

And, as of Thursday, all but 3 percent of residents in long-term care facilities with 25 or more beds have been tested. The Georgia Department of Community Health reported Thursday that 97 percent of nursing home residents have been tested, up 12 percent from last week.

Kemp said this is an especially important step since those in nursing homes and similar facilities are most likely to die from the virus.

"This is important progress, but we won’t stop fighting to protect Georgia’s most vulnerable," said Kemp.

"Nursing homes and all long-term care facilities remain critically important battlegrounds in our fight against COVID-19," Kemp said. "Thanks to the hard work of state officials from the Department of Public Health, Department of Community Health, Georgia National Guard and Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, we are making significant progress in staff and resident testing while also supplying facilities with the resources and PPE that they need."

As of Saturday, the state had 55,783 confirmed cases of the coronavirus with 2,418 deaths and 9,181 hospitalizations.

The state has now tested 697,251 residents with 8.1 percent testing positive, according to the Georgia Department of Public Heath.

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