The Georgia Ministry of Public Health reports fewer than 2500 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest level in 7 days.
Georgia has 4 other states (California, Florida, Texas, and New York) in terms of the total number of cases shown from COVID-19.
Widely robust active hospitalizations in just over 2,800. About two dozen of them get care at a short-term hospital at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Gov. Brian Kemps says he’s closely watching the death rate, which now stands at 2%. Kemp also said he’s monitoring the percentage of positive tests, which is now around 11%. That’s down from a high of 16% last month. However, the World Health Organization recommends a rate of 5% for two weeks before reopening an economy.
Federal, state and Fulton County officials say metro Atlanta is set for a big boost in COVID-19 testing capacity.
A “surge” testing site will be set up in a parking lot at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport beginning today. It’s expected to be there for nearly two weeks says Doctor Lynn Paxton with the Fulton County Board of Health.
“This site is expected to conduct up to 5,000 or even more tests consistent with the day,” Paxton said. “It remains to be noted whether or not this number of other people will use it.”
The state of Georgia operates in coordination with Fulton County and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The White House Coronavirus Task Group named Atlanta as one of its hot spots for COVID-19 cases.
Gov. Brian Kemp says he does not have a state requirement that young people wear masks in public schools, even as state officials continue to check thousands of new COVID-19 instances every day.
Thousands of academics returned to study rooms throughout the state this week, and some have already tested positive for coronavirus. Still, Kemp says to demand that the face mask be a resolution left to local school districts.
“As top things in education, I am firmly convinced that local governments know their school better than state government,” he told reporters Monday. “We’ve been handling things this way for a long time.”
The governor joined the occasion through U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who echoed Kemp’s reluctance to impose masking needs in public schools.
“Unless you send a ter or a security guard with the student all day, they’ll eventually take off that mask,” he says.
Adams says mask mandates are “practically hard to enforce,” especially if students don’t understand their value in stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
To this end, he called on scholars on the importance of following public fitness rules related to the use of masks.
“If you want a ball on the user next year, if you want to move on to spring break, if you want a start on the user, then we want them to paint together,” Adams said. “I ask you to do this because you will gain advantages from it.”
Adams’ comments come a few days after a photo of a crowded hallway at one of Georgia’s best schools went viral. Several north Paulding High School academics have tested positive for COVID-19.
Governor Kemp also continued to oppose a state order for the use of masks for the general public and is suing the city of Atlanta for its resolve to include a local mask requirement.