GA COVID-19 Cases Top 4K For Fifth Time, Positives Rise

ATLANTA, GA — It’s another day in Georgia — and another 4,000-plus newly confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Georgia’s health department reported 4,293 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, the fifth time since the pandemic began that new cases in a 24-hour period topped 4,000.

Georgia also reported 54 new deaths, considerably higher than the 11 reported the day before.

Hospitalizations continue to rise as well, with Georgia adding 406 hospitalizations Tuesday. The total number of admissions to intensive-care units so far stands at 3,236.

Another concerning statistic is the rising number of tests that come up positive for the coronavirus. As recently as July 8, the total percentage of positives was only 8.7 percent. As of Tuesday, it had risen to 10.2 percent.

The numbers come on the same day that Gov. Brian Kemp withdrew his request for an emergency injunction against Atlanta enforcing a mask mandate. Meanwhile, Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms continue to negotiate a truce over Kemp's lawsuit against Bottoms, which has not been withdrawn.

CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported a total of 175,052 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 2:50 p.m. Tuesday. According to the health department’s website, that's 4,293 more than was reported at the same time Monday.

Georgia also reported 3,563 deaths so far from COVID-19, 54 more that reported Monday. In addition, the state reported 16,353 hospitalizations — 406 more than the day before — and 3,236 admissions so far to intensive-care units.

No information is available from Georgia about how many patients have recovered.

Counties in or near metro Atlanta continue to have the highest number of positives, with Fulton still leading and Hall County exceeding 5,000 cases total for the first time on Tuesday.

• Fulton County: 16,482 cases — 409 new
• Gwinnett County: 15,915 cases — 381 new
• DeKalb County: 11,494 cases — 213 new
• Cobb County: 10,453 cases — 213 new
• Hall County: 5,017 cases — 93 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: 373 deaths
• Cobb County: 292 deaths
• Gwinnett County: 217 deaths
• DeKalb County: 208 deaths
• Dougherty County: 166 deaths

As of Tuesday, Georgia has administered more than 1.7 million COVID-19 tests, with about 13 percent of those tests the less reliable ones used to detect antibodies.

For the more reliable test for the virus itself, 10.8 percent of tests came back positive. For the less reliable test for antibodies, 6.2 percent came back positive. The overall positive rate was about 10.2 percent.

As more Georgians were tested over the last few weeks, positive percentages for both the virus test and tests overall have inched upward. On July 6, the percentage of tests overall that came back positive was only 8.7 percent.

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

Globally, more than 16.5 million people have been infected by COVID-19, and more than 655,000 people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Tuesday.

In the United States, more than 4.3 million people have been infected and more than 148,000 people have died from COVID-19 as of Tuesday. The U.S. has only about 4 percent of the world's population but more confirmed cases and deaths than any other country.

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