Georgia sees highest single day of new COVID-19 cases since August

ATLANTA — More Georgia counties are now considered in the COVID red zone by health officials, according to a new White House report on the pandemic.

The Georgia Department of Public Health confirmed over 4,000 new cases of the coronavirus Wednesday, the highest rate of new infections we’ve seen since August. The positivity rate also jumped to over 14%, the highest it has been since September.

[SPECIAL SECTION: Coronavirus Pandemic in Georgia]

The 7-day average of new cases is 2,067 and the 7-day average positivity rate is 10.7%

Twenty-six percent of the new cases come from Fulton, Gwinnett and DeKalb counties.

Channel 2′s Tony Thomas was in Doraville, where he’s been going through the report and tracking how busy some test sites have been.

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The latest report paints a mixed report for the state. Georgia is still in the red zone with what’s considered a high COVID-19 case rate, but its only the 48th highest in the country. There are 159 cases for every 100,000 people.

Dr. Audrey Arona heads thee Gwinnett, Rockdale and Newton county health departments.

“We are all watching the numbers very carefully,” Arona said. “I think it’s important to recognize everyone’s fear and know that these cases are rising, but they aren’t rising at a tremendously fast rate like some surrounding states are.”

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