Georgia reports nearly 1,000 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours. Here’s a breakdown by county

The Georgia Department of Public Health confirmed 39,801 cases of COVID-19 Wednesday at 7 p.m., an increase of 154 cases from the health department’s 1 p.m. update.

There was an increase of 946 new cases reported in the state from 7 p.m. Tuesday to 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Statewide, 1,697 people have now died from the novel coronavirus, an increase of 10 since 1 p.m..

As of May 20, 959 people were currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Georgia, according to Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.

The Georgia Public Health Laboratory and private labs have performed 402,940 coronavirus tests. The state reported 378,156 tests Tuesday evening.

It’s unclear how many of these tests are viral tests and how many are antibody tests. Viral tests measure current infections while antibody tests check for past likely infections. They are two separate tests. A positive antibody test by itself is not listed as a confirmed COVID-19 case.



McClatchy reported Wednesday that the state was including both in their total test counts. Health experts said this has the effect of artificially increasing the number of tests performed, thereby lowering the percentage of positive cases in Georgia. State officials have not said how many antibody tests have been conducted in Georgia.

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 2,432 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 state health department also reported that 1,639 non-Georgia residents tested positive for COVID-19. State health officials previously said these numbers account for out-of-state residents whose healthcare provider is located in Georgia.

Breakdown by County

This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 1:31 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.