Georgia Increases From 125 To 154 Coronavirus Deaths; Cases Go From 4,117 To 4,748; Walker County Has 2nd Case

Georgia state health officials said Wednesday that 154 people in the state have died of the coronavirus - up from 125 the day before. The cases have spiraled to 4,748 - up from the Tuesday report of 4,117. 

Officials said 1,013 have been hospitalized in Georgia with the deadly virus.

Whitfield County is up to 14 cases with one death.

Walker County, which long resisted the virus, now has two cases. Dade County reported its first case on Monday.

Catoosa County has four cases and Chattooga County remains at three cases. 

Bartow County south of Chattanooga at Cartersville has 147 cases - up from 61 on Monday. There has been a fourth death there. Floyd County (Rome) has 70 cases with two deaths and Gordon County (Calhoun) is at 18 with one death. 

The cases remain centered around the Atlanta area, with Fulton County soaring to 638 cases. There have been 20 coronavirus deaths in Fulton County. Cobb County has 304 cases with 15 deaths. There are now 373 cases in Dekalb County (Decatur) with five deaths. Gwinnett County has increased to 257 cases with six deaths. Cases in Clayton County (Jonesboro) are at 128 with five deaths.

Dougherty County (Albany), where six died early in the epidemic, now has 490 cases with 29 deaths - up from 18 on Monday. Lee County, which is near Albany, has 94 cases with seven deaths.

Cherokee County (Canton) now has 85 cases and four deaths. Carroll County (Carrollton) has 133 cases and two deaths. Clarke County (Athens) has 54 cases and has seven deaths. Hall (Gainesville) increased to 71 cases, but no deaths.

Governor Brian P. Kemp and Georgia National Guard Adjutant General Tom Carden said they will activate and deploy over 100 Guardsmen to any long-term care facility - assisted living facility or nursing home - with COVID-19 cases. The Governor and Adjutant General will send troops to specific locations to implement infection control protocols and enhanced sanitation methods to mitigate COVID-19 exposure among vulnerable residents.

"Georgia's top priority is increasing healthcare capacity to protect vulnerable Georgians, especially those residing in long-term care facilities," said Governor Kemp. "If we can keep these populations as healthy as possible, we will be able to conserve precious medical supplies and hospital bed space in the coming days and weeks."

"The Georgia National Guard stands ready to assist any long-term care facility in this time of need through staff training and implementation of infectious disease control measures," said Adjutant General Tom Carden. "Our training has prepared us to fight this virus, and we are eager to lend a hand in this battle."

Twenty soldiers were headed to Pelham, Ga., on Wednesday to Pelham Parkway Nursing Home to audit existing sanitation methods, train staff on utilizing more aggressive infectious disease control measures, and thoroughly clean the facility. This facility has reported five confirmed cases of COVID-19. For future missions, only four or five soldiers will deploy to a specific facility. However, for Pelham Parkway Nursing Home, 20 soldiers are going for training purposes.

This assignment is the first of several missions based on close cooperation with the Georgia National Guard, Department of Public Health, Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, Georgia Health Care Association, and Georgia Center for Assisted Living.

 

On Tuesday, Governor Kemp announced a laboratory surge capacity plan "to quickly increase the availability of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for COVID-19 in Georgia. This initiative leverages the collective laboratory resources under the University System of Georgia, Georgia Public Health Laboratory, and Emory University. The ramp-up of laboratory testing surge capacity begins today. Upon implementation, labs will process over 3,000 samples per day."

"Adequate testing for COVID-19 has continued to be a top priority for the Coronavirus Task Force as we fight this pandemic," said Governor Kemp. "With this innovative partnership between state government agencies, our world-class research institutions, and private-sector partners, we will be able to dramatically increase testing capacity.

"We hope this surge capacity plan will allow federal and state public health officials to gain a more complete picture of COVID-19's impact on Georgia and better inform our collective decisions going forward. We expect this plan will lead to greater testing capacity and more insight into the number of positive cases in our state. I would like to thank University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley, Dr. Kathleen Toomey, and their respective staff for their hard work on this important partnership."

“Working collectively with our partners in the University System of Georgia will greatly expand our testing capacity. That means identifying more cases, getting more people into care, and protecting our communities from the spread of COVID-19,” said Department of Public Health Commissioner Kathleen E. Toomey, MD, MPH. “This collaboration will not only provide much-needed capacity now, but it will ensure a robust state infrastructure for the future.”

“The increase in testing capacity is critical to Georgia’s effort to battle COVID-19 in our communities, and our institutions are working hard to make it happen,” University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley said. “The experts at Augusta University, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Georgia understand that urgency and have the capacity and expertise to make this work for Georgia. We appreciate their hard work, and we thank our laboratory partners at Emory University and the Georgia Public Health Laboratory.”

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