Five Georgia cities are among worst COVID hotspots in US, White House report shows
Five communities in Georgia are among the hardest hit by coronavirus in the entire country, according to a recent White House COVID-19 task force report.
Cases, deaths and hospitalizations are surging across the state, and metros big and small are feeling the pain.
Atlanta had 37,262 new cases of COVID-19 during a seven-day span from Jan. 5 to Jan. 11, ranking seventh of all large cities in the U.S. That’s 619 cases per 100,000 people — a 19% jump from the week before.
Nearly 90% of in-patient beds are filled in the Atlanta metro area and half of ventilators are in use, McClatchy News reported.
The White House report organizes cities into three categories, by size. Large cities are those with populations of at least 1 million. Mid-size communities are between 250,000 and 1 million, and the small cities range from 50,000 to 250,000.
Rankings are determined by a combination of three things: total cases during the seven-day period, cases per 100,000, and the average positive test rate.
Augusta ranks sixth out of the 10 in the mid-size category, with 4,131 new cases over the course of a week, equating to 678 cases per 100,000 residents. Total cases increased 14% compared to the previous week, the report shows.
Georgia took three spots among the small cities group.
Warner Robins placed ninth, contributing 1,403 new cases, or 757 per 100,000 — a 6% increase over the week prior.
In seventh place comes Dalton. Dalton’s 1,304 new cases only represented a 1% growth from last week. An average of 901 residents per 100,000 were infected, the report found.
Gainesville is the sixth worst COVID hotspot in the small-city class with 1,520 new cases, or 743 out of 100,000. It also had a greater increase in infections — 10% — than either Dalton or Warner Robins.
As of Jan. 14, Georgia health officials have reported over 660,000 cases of coronavirus, 10,721 deaths, and nearly 46,000 hospitalizations since the pandemic began, state data shows.
Last week, Georgia had the fourth-highest rate of hospitalizations in the nation, McClatchy News reported.
The full White House report rankings are as follows:
Large cities
- Riverside, California, 971 cases (per 100,000)
- Los Angeles, California, 958
- Dallas, Texas, 721
- Phoenix, Arizona, 942
- San Antonio, Texas, 623
- San Diego, California, 712
- Atlanta, Georgia, 619
- Nashville, Tennessee, 658
- Las Vegas, Nevada, 637
- Tucson, Arizona, 804
Mid-size cities
- Bakersfield, California, 828 cases (per 100,000)
- Provo, Utah, 806
- Greenville, South Carolina, 686
- Tulsa, Oklahoma, 651
- Oxnard, California, 1,105
- Augusta, Georgia, 678
- Ogden, Utah, 655
- Knoxville, Tennessee, 605
- Visalia, California, 760
- Fresno, California, 631
Small cities
- Yuma, Arizona, 1,119 cases (per 100,000)
- St. George, Utah, 864
- Ardmore, Oklahoma, 1,924
- Lake Havasu City, Arizona, 819
- Wichita Falls, Texas, 986
- Gainesville, Georgia, 743
- Dalton, Georgia, 901
- Eagle Pass, Texas, 1,345
- Warner Robins, Georgia, 757
- London, Kentucky, 784