Flood of test supplies leads to record-setting day for new COVID-19 cases, GDPH reports
ATLANTA - Friday set another record high in the number of new confirmed coronavirus cases as reported by the Georgia Department of Public Health thanks in part to a new partnership with a North Carolina-based lab. Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday that Mako Medical has entered into an agreement with Georgia to provide additional supplies and to process 10,000 COVID-19 tests a day.
As of 3 p.m. Friday, the GDPH reports 161,401 total cases, a 24-hour increase of 4,813. The GDPH also reported another 82 deaths which is the state's third-highest increase, bringing the death toll to 3,442 since the start of the pandemic.
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The GDPH also reports Fulton County has surpassed Gwinnett County now with the most confirmed cases during the pandemic with 15,221 and 14,801 respectively. DeKalb County, which implemented a new mask ordinance on Tuesday, remains the third-highest with 10,767 cases since the start of the outbreak. Cobb County remains below 10,000 cases.
Current hospitalizations, according to the GDPH, dropped by 22, bringing the total hospital beds in-use in Georgia to 3,135. The GDPH reports 16,752 people have been hospitalized since the start of the outbreak. Gwinnett, Fulton, DeKalb, and Cobb have seen the highest hospitalizations from the coronavirus with more than 1,100 each. Gwinnett County tops the list with 1,758 current hospitalizations.
SEE ALSO: Concerns growing over long waits for coronavirus test results in Georgia
One of the reasons for the high number of cases is the surge of new tests added to the state's data set. Friday, the GDPH reported 45,506 were processed, which is more than double the amount it could previously handle. Among those new tests, 11.2% were positive.
The GDPH reports 1,382,444 have been administered since the start of the pandemic with 10.6% of those tests yielding positive results.
RELATED: CoronavirusNOW.com, FOX launches national hub for COVID-19 news and updates.
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