Georgia reports over 850 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours. Here’s a breakdown by county

The Georgia Department of Public Health confirmed 40,663 cases of COVID-19 Thursday at 7 p.m., an increase of 506 cases from Thursday morning.

There was an increase of 862 new cases reported in the state from 7 p.m. Wednesday to 7 p.m. Thursday.

Statewide, 1,775 people have now died from the novel coronavirus, an increase of 51 since 9 a.m.

As of May 20, 959 people were currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Georgia, according to Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency. These do not include patients who are suspected to have the novel coronavirus.

The Georgia Public Health Laboratory and private labs have performed 407,748 coronavirus tests, but at least 57,000 of those are antibody tests. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday evening that the Governor’s Office has requested the antibody tests be removed from the count.

They are two separate tests. Viral tests measure current infections while antibody tests check for past likely infections. A positive antibody test by itself is not listed as a confirmed COVID-19 case, state health officials said.



McClatchy reported Wednesday that the state is including both in the 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.

Governor addresses COVID-19 data

Gov. Brian Kemp held a press conference Thursday afternoon to give updates on the state’s efforts to fight COVID-19. Kemp told Georgia residents they can be confident in COVID-19 data going forward.

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 2,464 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 1,694 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 21, 2020 at 10:18 AM with the headline "Georgia reports over 850 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours. 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.