GA Drops To Second Highest For Coronavirus Severity: Report

GEORGIA — While Gov. Brian Kemp says coronavirus numbers are better, the White House says Georgia is in trouble in a new report released Sunday.

The report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force says, "Georgia is in the red zone for cases, indicating more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population last week, with the second highest rate in the country."

While the state has been making progress, as Kemp has been flaunting, with a decrease in new cases and a decrease in test positivity over the last week, but the report indicates these improvements need to accelerate.

The report listed other notable statistics, including

• Georgia is in the yellow zone for test positivity, indicating a rate between 5-10 percent, with the 11th highest rate in the country.
• 86% of all counties in Georgia have ongoing community transmission (yellow or red alert), with 52% having high levels of community transmission (red alert). For the first time, there is a decrease in the number of counties in the red zone from 109 to 82 counties. This progress needs to accelerate, not just in the large metro areas, but throughout the state.
• Georgia had 167 new cases per 100,000 population in the past week, compared to a national average of 93 per 100,000.
• 3.9 percent of nursing homes are reporting three or more residents with COVID-19 per week over the last three weeks.

Recommendation on how to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in Georgia were also included.

The first focused on nursing homes, suggesting the state, "expands the protection of those in nursing homes, assisted living, and long-term care facilities by ensuring access to rapid facility- wide testing in response to a resident or staff member with COVID-19 with isolation of all positive staff and residents."

Other suggestions included:

• A statewide mask mandate for counties with 20 or more active cases to ensure consistent mask usage, as improvements remain fragile.
• Continue the bar closure in all counties with rising test percent positivity, increase outdoor dining opportunities, and limit indoor dining to 25 percent of normal capacity.
• Ensure messaging to all citizens to limit social gatherings to 10 or fewer people, even with family.
• Continue the scale-up of testing, moving to community-led neighborhood testing especially in underserved neighborhoods.
• Ensure all individuals and households engaged in any multi-household activities are immediately tested, either in pools or as individuals.

CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS

On Wednesday, Georgia recorded 50 new deaths, 2,322 new cases and 222 new hospitalizations from the coronavirus, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health's website.

In all, Georgia has had 260,590 cases of the coronavirus, 5,311 deaths and 23,939 people hospitalized since March.

Counties in or near metro Atlanta continue to have the highest number of positives, with Fulton County still in the lead.

• Fulton County: 24,211 cases — 224 new
• Gwinnett County: 23,636 cases — 225 new
• Cobb County: 16,369 cases — 225 new
• DeKalb County: 16,193 cases — 107 new
• Hall County: 7,266 cases — 150 new

Counties in or near metro Atlanta also continue to have the most deaths from COVID-19. The lone exception is Dougherty County, site of Georgia's first major outbreak.

• Fulton County: 497 deaths
• Cobb County: 381 deaths — 3 new
• Gwinnett County: 314 deaths — 5 new
• DeKalb County: 287 deaths
• Dougherty County: 177 deaths — 1 new

As of Wednesday, Georgia has administered more than 2.5 million COVID-19 tests.

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

Globally, more than 24 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 821,000 people have died from it, Johns Hopkins University reported Wednesday.

In the United States, more than 5.8 million people have been infected and more than 179,000 people have died from COVID-19 as of Wednesday. The U.S. has only about 4 percent of the world's population but more confirmed cases and deaths than any other country.

Related:

• Mail-In Voting In Georgia: Deadlines, How To Get A Ballot
• 26,000 Coronavirus Cases At U.S. Colleges, New Tracker Shows