GA Coronavirus: 17 New Deaths, 1,200 Plus Hospitalized

Andrea V. Watson
Updated ·3 min read

ATLANTA, GA — The growing toll of the new coronavirus outbreak in Georgia as of Saturday, included 17 more deaths, the Georgia Department of Public Health said. The updated numbers reflect an increase of 329 cases from noon on Friday, bringing the total to 6,160 coronavirus cases statewide, and a total of 201 deaths. There are currently 1,239 people hospitalized from coronavirus in Georgia.

"Today’s significant increase in cases is in part due to additional laboratories reporting to DPH, and also improvements in electronic reporting from other laboratories," wrote DPH on its website. "Patient information is often incomplete and DPH works to complete the records, so data will change over time."

Gov. Brian Kemp ordered a statewide shelter-in-place order that went into effect Friday. It’s set to run through April 13. This date is in line with the state's public health emergency order. He also ordered Georgia public schools to stay closed for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year.

Related: What You Can, Can't Do Under Georgia's Stay At Home Order

As of Saturday morning, Fulton County's 941 cases are the most of any Georgia locality. The next highest totals are 636 in Dougherty County, DeKalb with 500 cases, Cobb with 428 cases, Gwinnett with 364 cases, Bartow with 160 cases, Carroll with 149 cases and Clayton with 224 cases.

Of those counties, Dougherty has the most deaths in the state with 30. Fulton has had 26 deaths, Cobb had 20, Lee, Clarke, Gwinnett and DeKalb, all had eight, Bartow, seven, Cherokee, five and Fayette, four. Houston, five and Clayton had nine, and Henry, three, Coweta, Terrell and Rockdale had two, Chatham, three, Floyd, three and Barrow had two deaths. Douglas and Sumter both had four.

Of Georgia's coronavirus cases, 59 percent are between ages 18 and 59, while those above the age of 60 make up 36 percent. People up to age 17 represent 1 percent of cases, and the remaining percentage of cases have unknown ages.

The Georgia Department of Public Health is now including details of the deaths.

The oldest person to die in Georgia from coronavirus was a 95-year-old man from Baker County. It is unknown if he had underlying medical conditions, the report shows.

The youngest person to die from the virus was a 29-year-old woman from Peach County.

Commercial laboratories have conducted 23,846 tests, and 5,723 came back positive for COVID-19. Among the Georgia Department of Health's 2,448 completed tests, 437 came back positive.

More than 1 million COVID-19 cases are confirmed worldwide and more than 60,000 people have died, Johns Hopkins reported Saturday morning. The U.S. has over 278,000 cases, the most of any country as of Saturday.

President Donald Trump declared late last month that a major disaster exists in Georgia. With it, he ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the coronavirus pandemic beginning on Jan. 20, and continuing.

The White House said in a press release that "federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments, and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance, for all areas in the state of Georgia impacted by coronavirus."

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further assessments.

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This article originally appeared on the Atlanta Patch