Georgia reports more than 17,400 coronavirus cases, 668 deaths. Here’s a breakdown by county

The Georgia Department of Public Health at 7 p.m. Friday confirmed 17,432 cases of COVID-19 in the state, up by 238 from the last update at noon.

Statewide, 668 people have now died from the novel coronavirus, an increase of 18 confirmed deaths since the last update.

The Georgia Public Health Laboratory and private labs have conducted a total of 71,693 COVID-19 tests. The state has processed 4,616 tests. Private labs have processed 67,077 state officials said.

The state health department reports 3,395 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 264 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 774 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 17, 2020 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Georgia reports more than 17,400 coronavirus cases, 668 deaths. Here’s a breakdown by county."

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.