Georgia Tops 6,000 Coronavirus Cases Thursday For First Time

ATLANTA, GA — Georgia set another one-day record on Thursday for newly diagnosed cases of COVID-19, with 6,126 reported statewide — the first time ever that number has surpassed 6,000. The previous one-day record was 5,015, set on Dec. 4.

That number doesn’t include the 1,824 antigen-positive quick tests, which are slightly less accurate than the direct tests. Most other states include those tests with their totals. Added together, Georgia on Thursday reported nearly 8,000 positive tests for COVID-19 over the last 24 hours.

Thursday’s numbers pushed the seven-day moving average for new cases to 4,148.4, well above the summer-surge peak of 3,732.9 set on July 20.

FIVE NEW METRO ATLANTA SHERIFFS IN QUARANTINE

These numbers come the same day that six newly elected Georgia sheriffs — five of them in metro Atlanta — have gone into quarantine, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. All of them attended a three-week training course in November at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, and all but one of them has tested positive for COVID-19.

Among those who’ve tested positive are Pat Labat of Fulton County, Craig Owens of Cobb County, Keybo Taylor of Gwinnett County and Reginald Scandrett of Henry County. Melody Maddox of DeKalb County has not yet tested positive but is in quarantine. Another sheriff outside metro Atlanta is not being identified by the Georgia Sheriff’s Association, which conducted the training course.

“I hate that my colleagues are going through this,” Scandrett said, as reported by the Atlanta newspaper. “I wish they (the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association) shut the school down after the first couple of people tested positive.”

Labat told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that attendees practiced social distancing when the training sessions began. he became concerned when he saw other attendees wearing masks less frequently.

Owens, Labat and Maddox later issued a statement asking that the sheriff’s association require those attending their events to test negative for the coronavirus first.

GEORGIA CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS FOR DEC. 10, 2020

The Georgia Department of Public Health in Atlanta reported a total of 462,175 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 2:50 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 10. According to the health department’s website, that includes 6,790 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the last 24 hours. In addition, Georgia reported 1,824 new antigen-positive cases over the last 24 hours, which are considered to be probable cases of COVID-19.

Georgia has reported 9,123 deaths so far from COVID-19, with 55 more confirmed deaths recorded in the last 24 hours. Georgia also reported 852 probable deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. These probable deaths include fatalities with indirect evidence of COVID-19.

Georgia reported 37,017 hospitalizations — 277 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: 41,284 cases — 458 new
2. Gwinnett County: 40,947 cases — 625 new
3. Cobb County: 29,175 cases — 385 new
4. DeKalb County: 28,725 cases — 361 new
5. Hall County: 13,907 cases — 293 new
6. Chatham County: 11,233 — 78 new
7. Clayton County: 10,877 — 209 new
8. Richmond County: 10,507 — 130 new
9. Cherokee County: 10,110 — 117 new
10. Whitfield County: 8,641 — 115 new

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

1. Fulton County: 697 deaths — 5 new
2. Gwinnett County: 520 deaths — 3 new
3. Cobb County: 511 deaths — 2 new
4. DeKalb County: 457 deaths — 5 new
5. Bibb County: 225 deaths — 1 new
6. Chatham County: 207 deaths — 1 new
7. Clayton County: 202 deaths
8. Richmond County: 202 deaths
9. Hall County: 200 deaths
10. Dougherty County: 199 deaths

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

Globally, nearly 69.3 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 1.57 million people have died from it, Johns Hopkins University reported Thursday.

In the United States, nearly 15.5 million people have been infected and nearly 291,000 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.