Georgia confirms more than 2,500 new COVID-19 cases and 51 deaths. Here’s the latest.

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported 384,997 cumulative COVID-19 cases Saturday, up by more than 2,500 new cases in 24 hours.

Here are some key takeaways from the latest data:

Cases: 384,997 (including 2,553 reported Saturday). The number of new cases reported in a day may not match the difference in total cases over a 24-hour period. This occurs because previously reported cases may be removed as duplicate reports are corrected. An older confirmed case may also be reclassified as additional information is collected during an investigation.

Confirmed Deaths: 8,462 (including 51 deaths in the previous 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.

Probable Deaths: 494. This number includes individuals who are antigen positive or individuals with compatible illness and known close contact to cases that were either reported to the state as deceased by health care providers or medical examiners/coroners, were identified by death certificates with COVID-19 indicated as the cause of death, where there is evidence that COVID contributed to the individual’s death or individuals with a death certificate that has COVID-19 indicated as the cause of death but there is no laboratory evidence for SARS-CoV-2.

Tests: Georgia reported 344,853 total antibody tests and 3,865,939 total viral tests (including 27,389 viral tests in 24 hours). These totals don’t account for tests that are not reported through the state’s electronic lab reporting system.

Positivity rate for Georgia Saturday: 7.7%. Georgia’s overall positivity: 9.3%. The World Health Organization’s recommended test positivity rate is 5% to properly track outbreaks and locate milder cases of the disease.

Current COVID-19 hospitalizations: 1,708. The count includes any patient in a Georgia hospital who has tested positive for COVID-19 at the time of the report. This count does not include patients who are being investigated by health officials for possible infection.

Total COVID-19 hospitalizations: 33,216, an increase of 127 in 24 hours.

Hospital capacity: 82.2% of the state’s critical care beds are full as of Saturday. Not all critical-care beds in the state are filled with COVID-19 patients.

For a complete county-by-county list and additional data, visit the Georgia Department of Public Health’s website. The health department is not reporting how many Georgians have recovered.

Regional update

▪ Muscogee County reported 6,622 COVID-19 cases, an increase of 14 cases in 24 hours. The county reported 184 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths, an increase of two in 24 hours.

The county also reported three probable coronavirus-related deaths. There was no increase of probable deaths in 24 hours.

Over the past two weeks, 4% of Muscogee County’s tests came back positive. Since the start of the pandemic, 9.2% of the county’s tests were positive.

▪ In Middle Georgia, Bibb County reported 6,974 cases, up 27 cases in 24 hours. The county reported 213 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths, an increase of one in 24 hours.

The county also reported 12 probable coronavirus-related deaths. There was no increase in probable deaths in 24 hours.

Over the last two weeks, 8.1% of Bibb County’s tests came back positive. Since the start of the pandemic, 14.5% of the county’s tests were positive, according to state’s data.

▪ Fulton County reports the highest number of cumulative cases in the state at 33,797.