Georgia sees record number of COVID-19 deaths reported in a single day
ATLANTA - The grimmest of all records in Georgia’s fight against the coronavirus was set on Tuesday as 145 people were reported dead within the last 24 hours due to COVID-19, state health officials report.
As of 3 p.m. on Tuesday, the Georgia Department of Public Health said there have been 10,444 confirmed deaths from the virus. The previous record high was 106 on Aug. 25, 2020. This is the second time reported confirmed deaths in Georgia have reached triple digits in one day. Saturday, the state reported 100 deaths.
The two-week average for deaths per day sits now at just under 50, a rate not seen since the middle of September.
State officials said another 42 people, believed to have the virus, but not confirmed, also were reported dead in the last 24 hours bringing the probable deaths to 1,176 since the start of the pandemic.
The country’s eighth-largest state currently has the ninth highest total number of deaths, according to data provided by John Hopkins University, but is ranked 34th when adjusted to average daily deaths per 100,000 people in the last seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Tuesday also saw the sixth time this year the number of hospitalizations set a record, according to data provided by the Georgia Department of Public Health. The state reported 5,695 people were currently in the hospital as of Tuesday afternoon. A total of 45,177 Georgians have been hospitalized since the beginning of the pandemic. Most hospitals remain at or near capacity with more than a third of all patients suffering from COVID-19 symptoms.
Reported cases were down slightly Tuesday, but the two-week average continued to climb, according to state data. There has been an average of 6,856 cases per day for the last 14 days or 95,982 confirmed cases total in the same time period. The state counts 648,694 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
Those numbers do not include the 124,998 total cases confirmed by antigen testing, According to the GDPH, 3,372 more confirmed cases were added Tuesday.
SEE ALSO: Why are many GA first responders taking a pass on the COVID vaccine?
More than 206,900 have been vaccinated, or about 2% of Georgia's population, the Georgia Department of Health reported Monday. The state has now received 84% of its Pfizer vaccine allotment and 66% of its Moderna allotment.
Monday also saw the expansion of vaccinations in the state, allowing for those who are 65 or older to make an appointment to receive the vaccine. Learn more about that at FOX5Atlanta.com/vaccine.
RELATED: CoronavirusNOW.com, FOX's national hub for COVID-19 news and updates.
Know how the COVID-19 outbreak is impacting Georgia
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