Georgia Coronavirus Cases Spike To 485 - Up From 287; 14 Virus Deaths Now Recorded In The State

  • Friday, March 20, 2020

Georgia's coronavirus cases have spiked to 485 - up from 287 in one day - and the state is now reporting 14 deaths. That is up from 10 deaths on Thursday.

The deadly virus is now in 53 Georgia counties.

Whitfield County - the closest to Chattanooga reporting a case - remains at one. No cases have yet been reported in Walker, Catoosa or Dade counties.

Bartow County south of Chattanooga at Cartersville now has 54 cases - up from six four days ago. Authorities said a 65-year-old member of the congregation of Church at Liberty Square in Cartersville, died from coronavirus. Two other members of the same church tested positive for the virus.

Floyd County is up to seven cases and Gordon County (Calhoun) remains at three.

The cases remain centered around the Atlanta area, with 88 now in Fulton County and 47 in Cobb County. Gwinnett County now has 23 cases. The first Georgia residents to be diagnosed with coronavirus live in the same house in Fulton County. One had recently returned from Italy, where one of the most serious outbreaks has occurred.

Two virus patients died at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany They were a 42-year-old woman and a 69-year-old woman, who both had pre-existing medical conditions. Authorities said three Albany residents who went to the same funeral wound up dying. 

 

A coronavirus patient died at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta. Officials said, "The Emory Healthcare community is saddened to learn of the first death of one of our patients with confirmed COVID-19 despite the heroic efforts of our physicians, nurses and care team. For this patient’s family, this is an incredibly sad day.”

 

A 67-year-old man with underlying health issues died last week at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Cobb County. He was listed as the state's first coronavirus victim.

 

 Members of the Georgia State Legislature were advised to go into quarantine after State Senatorn Brandon Beach (R) announced that he had been diagnosed with the coronavirus. He said he first experienced a cough and mild fever, but he felt well enough to take part in the legislative session on Monday.

 

 On Wednesday, he disclosed that his test had come back positive, prompting Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) and House Speaker David Ralston (R) to call on all 236 state lawmakers to quarantine themselves through the end of March. The request was also sent to state Senate and House staffers.

 

On testing for the virus in Georgia, health officials said, "The number of test results being reported to the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) is increasing as more labs are able to test for Covid-19. Additionally, test results are coming in at various times throughout the day from commercial labs." 

 

Others and the previous day's report:

Dougherty 44 (20)

Dekalb  36 (22)

Cherokee 16 (13)

Lee 13 (8)

Fayette 10 (9)

Clayton 10 (6)

Clarke 10 (6)

Fayette 9 

Richmond 8 (1)

Carroll 7 (0)

Lowndes 7 (6)

Henry 6 (3)

Coweta 6 (3)

Hall 6 (5)

Newton 4 (3)

Paulding 3

Forsyth 3

Troup 2 

Terrell 2  

Glynn 2 

Worth 2

Chatam 2

Early 2

Glynn 2

Houston 2

Pickens 2

Spalding 2

Sumter 2

Terrell 2

Troup 2

Worth 2

Barrow 1

Bibb 1

Charlton 1

Charleston 1

Columbia 1

Dawson 1

Douglas 1

Effingham 1

Heard 1

Lamar 1

Miller 1

Monroe 1

Muscogee 1

Oconee 1

Peach 1

Randolph 1

Rockdale 1

Tift 1

Turner 1

Unknown 31

 

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