Georgia reports more than 16,300 coronavirus cases, 617 deaths

Editor’s note: DPH released numbers at 9 a.m. and 12:22 p.m., rather than its regular noon update. This story has been edited to reflect the most recent numbers.

The Georgia Department of Public Health at 7 p.m. Thursday confirmed 16,368 cases of COVID-19 in the state, up by 699 from the last update at noon Thursday.

Statewide, 617 people have now died from the novel coronavirus, an increase of 30 confirmed deaths since noon.

The Georgia Public Health Laboratory and private labs have conducted a total of 67,939 COVID-19 tests. The state has processed 4,358 tests. Private labs have processed 63,581 state officials said.

The state health department reports 3,260 people have been hospitalized due to the virus.

State health officials have not provided a breakdown of the residents tested for COVID-19 in each county. The state is also not tracking the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19.

For 212 cases, the state is reporting the counties as “unknown.” The person may be homeless or medical professionals may not have entered the person’s county of residence into the state’s electronic database, health officials have previously said.

The DPH is also reporting that 724 non-Georgia residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19. These numbers account for out of state residents whose healthcare provider is located in Georgia, state health officials said.

The number of confirmed cases is expected to continue increasing with each update as testing capacity in Georgia expands, the DPH said in a press release last week.

Breakdown by County

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 12:23 PM.

Nick Wooten

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

Nick Wooten is the Accountability/Investigative reporter for the Ledger-Enquirer where he is responsible for covering several topics, including Georgia politics. His work may also appear in the Macon Telegraph. Nick was given the Georgia Press Association’s 2021 Emerging Journalist award for his coverage of elections, COVID-19 and Columbus’ LGBTQ+ community. Before joining McClatchy, he worked for The (Shreveport La.) Times covering city government and investigations. He is a graduate of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.