New GA Coronavirus Cases Top 2,500, Only 2nd Time Since Sept. 3

ATLANTA, GA — Georgia’s coronavirus numbers aren’t as high yet as the summer surge — but they’re headed in that direction.

Georgia’s health department reported 2,547 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its Thursday daily report, only the second time new cases have topped 2,500 since Sept. 3.

Georgia also reported on Thursday a seven-day moving average for new cases up to 1,734.9. That moving average has been above 1,700 every day except one since Nov. 5. Before that, the last time it exceeded 1,700 was on Sept. 21.

These numbers square with Georgia’s stats in the latest White House Coronavirus Task Force Report, issued Sunday. Georgia is in the red zone for new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population, up 14 percent from the previous week. At the same time, Georgia’s testing rate is below the national average, according to Dr. Amber Schmidtke, an infectious-disease expert from Mercer University who analyzes trends on her website and for social media.

Although Georgia is ranked 40th in the nation for new COVID-19 cases per 100,000, 41 other states are in the red zone with Georgia. That’s not good, Schmidtke said.

“In the past, the surges were regionally focused — in the northeast in the spring and in the south during the summer,” Schmidtke wrote on Wednesday. “When they’re regionally focused like that, it’s possible to send in reinforcements of supplies and personnel. When the surge is taking place nationwide, it might mean that we’re all on our own more so than in previous surges.

“So we are really not in a good spot as a nation right now,” Schmidtke wrote. “We really need for people to take this seriously.”

GEORGIA CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS FOR NOV. 12, 2020

The Georgia Department of Public Health in Atlanta reported a total of 380,190 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 2:50 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12. According to the health department’s website, that includes 2,547 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the last 24 hours. In addition, Georgia reported 560 new antigen-positive cases over the last 24 hours, which are considered to be probable cases of COVID-19.

Georgia has reported 8,403 deaths so far from COVID-19, with 70 more deaths recorded in the last 24 hours. Georgia also reported 478 “probable” deaths since the pandemic started from COVID-19. These probable deaths include fatalities with indirect evidence of COVID-19.

Georgia reported 32,947 hospitalizations — 141 more than the day before — and 6,191 admissions so far to intensive-care units. The percentage of ICU beds in use statewide stayed steady at 83.5 percent of capacity, but not all of these beds are being used by COVID-19 patients.

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 positives, with Fulton County still in the lead.

1. Fulton County: 33,335 cases — 236 new
2. Gwinnett County: 32,860 cases — 212 new
3. Cobb County: 23,547 cases — 146 new
4. DeKalb County: 23,112 cases — 185 new
5. Hall County: 11,361 cases — 70 new
6. Chatham County: 9,889 — 55 new
7. Clayton County: 8,950 — 66 new
8. Richmond County: 8,624 — 66 new
9. Cherokee County: 7,913 — 85 new
10. Bibb County: 6,916 — 34 new

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

1. Fulton County: 649 deaths — 5 new
2. Cobb County: 480 deaths — 1 new
3. Gwinnett County: 472 deaths — 7 new
4. DeKalb County: 421 deaths — 3 new
5. Bibb County: 212 deaths — 2 new
6. Chatham County: 198 deaths — 3 new
7. Dougherty County: 195 deaths — 1 new
8. Richmond County: 192 deaths — 3 new
9. Hall County: 188 deaths — 3 new
10. Clayton County: 187 deaths — 3 new

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

Globally, more than 52.5 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, and nearly 1.29 million people have died from it, Johns Hopkins University reported Thursday.

In the United States, nearly 10.5 million people have been infected and more than 242,000 people have died from COVID-19 as of Thursday. The U.S. has only about 4 percent of the world's population but more confirmed cases and deaths than any other country.

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