Georgia reports nearly 900 new cases Thursday. Here are the latest trends

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported nearly 61,000 cumulative COVID-19 cases Thursday.

Here are some key takeaways:

• Cases: 60,912 (+882 in 24 hours). McClatchy measures new cases by subtracting the total number of infections reported at 3 p.m. from the total number of infections reported the previous day at 3 p.m.
• Deaths: 2,605 (+30 deaths in 24 hours). It’s important to note that these numbers indicate when deaths are reported to the Georgia Department of Public Health. It does not reflect when these deaths occurred.
  
  
• Tests: 778,570. This number includes 121,151 antibody tests and 657,419 viral tests (+12,696 new viral tests in 24 hours). These totals don’t account for tests that are not reported through the state’s electronic lab reporting system.
  
  
• Current Hospitalizations: 921. That’s an increase of 40 patients in 24 hours. This count does not include patients who are being investigated for possible infections by health officials. The number of current hospitalizations has increased every day since Monday.
• Cases per 100,000: Echols (4157.22), Randolph (2857.57), Chattahoochee (2828.17), Terrell (2837.47) and Early (2562.89) counties have the highest coronavirus rates per 100,000 people in the state.
  
  
• The health department is not reporting how many Georgians have recovered.

For a complete county-by-county list, visit the Georgia Department of Public Health’s website.

Regional updates

• Cases in the Columbus area continue to rise. Muscogee County reported 1,113 cases Thursday (up 14 cases in 24 hours). As of June 18, 33 coronavirus-related deaths have been confirmed in Muscogee, an increase of one in 24 hours.
  
  
• Chattahoochee County reported 305 COVID-19 cases Thursday, an increase of one from Wednesday. There were only 39 confirmed infections there May 29, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health. Chattahoochee ranks in the top 3 for COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in Georgia.
• The first coronavirus-related death has been confirmed in Chattahoochee County. She was a 54-year-old, African-American female with no listed underlying health conditions, according to state data.
• Bibb County reported 583 cases, up 13 cases from Wednesday. Houston County reported 479 cases, an increase of nine cases.
  
  
• Gwinnett County reports the highest number of cases in the state, at 5,753.

This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 4:04 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.