Georgia’s COVID-19 case total surpasses 9,000, death toll nearing 350

As testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus disease becomes more accessible in Georgia, the state’s number of confirmed cases continues to make significant jumps, including 338 new cases since noon Tuesday.

There are now 9,156 cases of the disease, and 348 deaths from it, that have been reported in Georgia as of 7 p.m. Tuesday. The deaths account for 3.8% of all cases seen in the state.

Meanwhile, 1,899 Georgians have been hospitalized because of the disease, accounting for 20.74% of cases seen in the state.

At the same time, the total number of tests conducted in Georgia increased from 33,713 at noon to just 33,758 as of 7 p.m. The Tuesday night number includes 2,720 tests conducted at the state’s health lab — the same amount reported at noon — and another 31,065 tests conducted at commercial labs, which is an increase of 72 tests since noon.

The state has not released figures on the number of people who have contracted the disease but later recovered.

While the spike in the number of confirmed cases can be tied to an expansion in the availability of testing for the disease, an alarming trend is the spike in deaths. In just 24 hours, from noon Monday to noon Tuesday, the Georgia Department of Public Health received 100 reports of COVID-19-related deaths across the state.

The statewide death toll jumped by an additional 19 deaths as of 7 p.m. Tuesday.

People ages 18-59 continue to make up the majority of COVID-19 cases in Georgia, 59% in all, followed by people ages 60 and older (36%) and newborns to 17-year-olds (1%). The ages of people in the remaining 4% of cases in the state is unknown.

Women make up 53% of COVID-19 patients in Georgia while men make up another 45%. The gender of patients in the remaining cases was unknown.

Fulton County has had the largest total of cases, 1,185 cases and 39 deaths in all. Among the five counties with the highest case numbers in Georgia, Fulton is followed by Dougherty County (973 case, 56 deaths), DeKalb County (673 cases, 11 deaths), Cobb County (566 cases, 29 deaths) and Gwinnett County (540 cases, 13 deaths).

The county of residence is unknown in 441 cases, including six deaths.

The full county-by-county breakdown of cases and deaths is as follows: 

Photo: Georgia Department of Public Health