GA Coronavirus: 5 Atlanta-Area Sheriffs-Elect Now Have COVID-19

ATLANTA, GA — Another Atlanta-area sheriff-elect has tested positive for the coronavirus after attending a professional training event.

Incoming DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox announced Friday that she’d tested positive for COVID-19. According to a statement from the county, Maddox is not experiencing symptoms and is quarantining at home. She’s the fifth Atlanta-area sheriff-elect to test positive after attending a training event in Callaway Gardens conducted by the Georgia Sheriff’s Association.

Pat Labat of Fulton County, Craig Owens of Cobb County, Keybo Taylor of Gwinnett County and Reginald Scandrett of Henry County have also tested positive for COVID-19. In addition, one of Taylor’s staff tested positive, as has another unidentified Georgia sheriff outside Atlanta. None of the metro Atlanta sheriffs-elect have been hospitalized.

After Labat and Owens tested positive, the training course was postponed. Officials with the Georgia Sheriff’s Association are trying to decide if further precautions are needed to finish the training in January.

Georgia Coronavirus Numbers For Dec. 11, 2020

The Georgia Department of Public Health in Atlanta reported a total of 466,904 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 2:50 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11. According to the health department’s website, that includes 6,832 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the last 24 hours. In addition, Georgia reported 1,650 new antigen-positive cases over the last 24 hours, which are considered to be probable cases of COVID-19.

Georgia has reported 9,175 deaths so far from COVID-19, with 52 more confirmed deaths recorded in the last 24 hours. Georgia also reported 856 probable deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. These probable deaths include fatalities with indirect evidence of COVID-19.

Georgia reported 37,321 hospitalizations — 304 more than the day before — and 6,790 admissions so far to intensive-care units.

No information is available from Georgia about how many patients have recovered.

Counties in or near metro Atlanta and other metropolitan areas continue to have the highest number of COVID-19 positives, with Fulton County still in the lead. Nine of the top 10 counties — seven in metro Atlanta, one that’s home to Augusta and one that’s home to Dalton — posted triple-digit increases. These statistics do not include antigen-positive cases.

1. Fulton County: 41,647 cases — 363 new
2. Gwinnett County: 41,335 cases — 388 new
3. Cobb County: 29,543 cases — 368 new
4. DeKalb County: 29,019 cases — 294 new
5. Hall County: 14,075 cases — 168 new
6. Chatham County: 11,314 — 81 new
7. Clayton County: 10,994 — 117 new
8. Richmond County: 10,621 — 114 new
9. Cherokee County: 10,212 — 102 new
10. Whitfield County: 8,789 — 148 new

Counties in or near metro Atlanta also continue to have the most deaths from COVID-19.

1. Fulton County: 704 deaths — 7 new
2. Gwinnett County: 523 deaths — 3 new
3. Cobb County: 513 deaths — 2 new
4. DeKalb County: 460 deaths — 3 new
5. Bibb County: 228 deaths — 3 new
6. Chatham County: 212 deaths — 5 new
7. Richmond County: 203 deaths — 1 new
8. Clayton County: 202 deaths
9. Hall County: 200 deaths
10. Dougherty County: 199 deaths — 1 new

All Georgia statistics are available on the state's COVID-19 website.

Globally, nearly 70 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, and nearly 1.59 million people have died from it, Johns Hopkins University reported Friday.

In the United States, more than 15.7 million people have been infected and more than 293,000 people have died from COVID-19 as of Friday. The U.S. has only about 4 percent of the world's population but more confirmed cases and deaths than any other country.

RELATED:

• DeKalb County Sheriff-Elect Tests Positive For COVID-19
• 'No One Asked For This': Pandemic Unemployment Highest In Months
• Live Events Industry Lost $30 Billion In 2020