GA Coronavirus 'Resurgence' More Than 'A Little Bump': Professor

ATLANTA, GA — Georgia is in “the early stages of full resurgence” of the COVID-19 virus, according to the latest report from the White House Task Coronavirus Task Force.

And Thursday is Thanksgiving.

One expert on Wednesday criticized Gov. Brian Kemp’s characterization of the resurgence as a “little bump” at his briefing earlier this week, especially given that Georgians will be traveling for the holidays.

“I mean, we are asking people to cancel or limit their Thanksgiving gatherings, and that is a BIG task,” wrote Amber Schmidtke, a Mercer University professor and immunology expert who posts regularly on the pandemic. “I doubt people are going to take the more careful approach when the Governor implies that the increase is no big deal. This ambivalence breeds complacency.”

The Nov. 22 White House Coronavirus Task Force report shows that Georgia’s new COVID-19 virus cases per 100,000 people are up 36 percent from the previous week.

Schmidtke described Kemp downplaying the rise in new cases as a “missed opportunity” to emphasize the seriousness of what will happen — especially in rural communities that don’t benefit from public messaging and have a death rate 73 percent higher than the state average.

Georgia does appear to be doing better than many states and is ranked 39th for COVID-19 test positivity, according to the White House report. However, Schmidtke wrote, the situation is “even more dire” if one counts the antigen-positive cases, currently broken out as a separate statistic on Georgia’s online dashboard. Most states report antigen-positive tests to the White House Task Force, so the report’s view of Georgia is “an underestimate of Georgia’s reality,” she concluded.

GEORGIA CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS FOR NOV. 25, 2020

The Georgia Department of Public Health in Atlanta reported a total of 411,002 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus at 2:50 p.m. Wednesday. According to the health department’s website, that includes 2,387 newly confirmed cases of the virus over the last 24 hours. In addition, Georgia reported 924 new antigen-positive cases over the last 24 hours, which are considered to be probable cases of COVID-19.

Georgia has reported 8,694 deaths so far from COVID-19, with 49 more confirmed deaths recorded in the last 24 hours. Georgia also reported 603 probable deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. These probable deaths include fatalities with indirect evidence of COVID-19.

Georgia reported 34,413 hospitalizations — 145 more than the day before — and 6,434 admissions so far to intensive care units. The percentage of ICU beds in use statewide is about 80 percent of capacity, but not all of these beds are being used by COVID-19 patients. About 29 percent of total ventilators available in Georgia are currently in use.

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 and the top five counties posting triple-digit increases.

1. Fulton County: 36,563 cases — 278 new
2. Gwinnett County: 35,671 cases — 223 new
3. Cobb County: 25,791 cases — 222 new
4. DeKalb County: 25,374 cases — 156 new
5. Hall County: 12,122 cases — 101 new
6. Chatham County: 10,448 — 56 new
7. Clayton County: 9,621— 70 new
8. Richmond County: 9,265 — 32 new
9. Cherokee County: 8,900 — 63 new
10. Henry County: 7,403 — 54 new

Counties in or near metro Atlanta also continue to have the most deaths from COVID-19. Also, Clayton County, on Atlanta’s south side, moved to ninth place ahead of Hall County, on Atlanta’s north side.

1. Fulton County: 658 deaths — 2 new
2. Cobb County: 492 deaths — 4 new
3. Gwinnett County: 487 deaths — 2 new
4. DeKalb County: 432 deaths — 3 new
5. Bibb County: 217 deaths
6. Chatham County: 202 deaths — 2 new
7. Dougherty County: 198 deaths
8. Richmond County: 195 deaths — 1 new
9. Clayton County: 194 deaths — 1 new
10. Hall County: 191 deaths — 1 new

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

Globally, more than 60.1 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 1.41 million people have died from it, Johns Hopkins University reported Wednesday.

In the United States, nearly 12.7 million people have been infected and more than 261,000 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:

• 'Terrified Of Dying Alone': Tearful Doctor Details COVID-19 Toll
• GA Coronavirus: Kemp Urges Safety Measures Ahead Of Holidays