Georgia has now recorded more than 7,500 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began, according to new figures released Friday afternoon by the state Department of Public Health.
The new numbers came on the same day the U.S. recorded more than 8 million confirmed cases, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The U.S. leads the world not only in cases but also deaths, with more than 217,000. Globally, there have been more than 39 million reported cases and more than 1.1 million deaths.
Georgia now has 7,556 deaths, with 337,850 confirmed cases and 30,217 hospitalizations. A total of 65 additional deaths have been reported since Thursday.
On Thursday, Georgia’s confirmed coronavirus death toll was 7,492, with 23 deaths occurring overnight. On Sept. 30, the state had recorded more than 7,000 deaths. The state passed 6,000 deaths during Labor Day weekend, two weeks after it recorded 5,000 COVID-19 fatalities.
On Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Americans would be wise to limit any planned Thanksgiving travel plans this year, due to risks of spreading the coronavirus.
“You may have to bite the bullet and sacrifice that social gathering, unless you’re pretty certain that the people that you’re dealing with are not infected,” said Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is already recommending trick-or-treaters stay at home this year, as many traditional Halloween activities can be high risk for “spreading” the coronavirus.
In July, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, said “the fall and the winter of 2020 and 2021 are going to be probably one of the most difficult times that we experienced in American public health.”
Coronavirus cases around the world have climbed to all-time highs of more than 330,000 per day as the scourge comes storming back across Europe and spreads with renewed speed in the U.S., forcing many places to reimpose tough restrictions they had eased just a few months ago.
In the United States, new cases per day are on the rise in 44 states, with the biggest surges in the Midwest and Great Plains, where resistance to wearing masks and observing other social distancing practices has been running high. Deaths per day are climbing in 30 states.
“Everyone has this traditional, emotional, warm feeling about the holidays and bringing a group of people, friends and family, together in the house indoors,” Fauci said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “We really have to be careful this time that each individual family evaluates the risk benefit of doing that.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, new cases in the U.S. have risen from about 40,000 per day on average to more than 52,000 during the last two weeks. Deaths were relatively stable over the same period, at around 720 a day. Worldwide, deaths have fallen slightly to about 5,200 a day.
The head of the World Health Organization’s Europe office urged governments to be “uncompromising” in controlling the virus. He said most of the spread is happening because people aren’t complying with the rules.
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