The Hamilton County Health Department on Friday reported a large increase in deaths from the COVID-19 virus. The death total on Thursday was reported at 785, and jumped to 867 on Friday.
Health Department officials said, "This increase is due to the review of death certificates by the Office of the State Chief Medical Examiner, which has resulted in additional deaths from 2021 being identified. This backlog largely coincided with the Delta variant surge."
The Hamilton County Health Department also reported 571 new positive COVID-19 cases on Friday. The total number of cases in the county now stands at 75,128.
The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is 181 in Hamilton County, up from 173 on Thursday. Nine more are hospitalized with suspected COVID. There are 102 Hamilton County inpatients and 42 patients are in ICU, up from 37 on Thursday.
The number of those who have recovered from coronavirus in Hamilton County is 67,993, which is 91 percent. There are 6,268 active cases, compared to 6,034 on Thursday.
Georgia will not report updated numbers on Thursday as they continue to work on technical issues.