Georgia has now recorded more than 8,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began, according to the latest figures released Tuesday afternoon from the state Department of Public Health.
On Tuesday, the state reported 8,029 confirmed deaths and 364,589 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The Department of Public Health added a new column Tuesday, “probable deaths,” to its dashboard.
According to the latest global and national data compiled by Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, more than 47 million cases of the coronavirus have been reported around the world, with 1.2 million deaths. The U.S. continues to lead the world in number of cases — more than 9.3 million — and deaths, with more than 232,000.
Nationally, the seven-day rolling average for daily new coronavirus cases in the U.S. rose during the last two weeks from 52,350 to more than 74,180, according to Johns Hopkins.
Positive test rates have been rising in 45 states, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Fifteen states have positive test rates of 10% or higher, considered an indicator of widespread transmission.
Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Adm. Brett Giroir said last week the proof of the uptick is the rising numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.
A multi-state coronavirus surge in the countdown to Election Day has exposed a clear split between President Donald Trump’s embrace of a return to normalcy and urgent public warnings from the government’s top health officials.
The Republican president and the health officials appear to be moving further apart since White House chief of staff Mark Meadows declared last Sunday “we’re not going to control the pandemic.”
Since then, Giroir has done a round of interviews warning that the country’s situation is “tenuous” but that Americans can control the virus by practicing what he calls the “3W’s”: watching your distance from others, wearing a mask and frequently washing your hands.
White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Deborah Birx, touring the states to raise prevention awareness, lamented in Bismarck, North Dakota, that she hadn’t seen such disdain for mask wearing elsewhere. “We find that deeply unfortunate because you don’t know who’s infected and you don’t know if you’re infected yourself,” she told reporters. The state’s positive test rate is 11%, above the level indicating widespread transmission.
The White House insists there’s no conflict between Trump and the health advisers who back in the spring shared the briefing room podium with the president on many occasions.
“As the president has said, the cure cannot be worse than the disease and this country should be open armed with best practices, such as social distancing, good hygiene, and face coverings, to limit the spread of COVID-19,” spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.
The health officials do not invoke Trump in their warnings, and they sidestep questions that might lead them into anything that could be perceived as a direct criticism.
Giroir also said the facts contradict the notion that the U.S. has more cases because it tests so many people. That’s an assertion often heard from Trump.
“We do believe, and the data show, cases are going up — it’s not just a function of testing,” he said on NBC. Rising numbers of hospitalizations and deaths confirm that.
Trump’s clashes with science and the scientists around him have been a running story throughout the pandemic. He’s often lashed out at Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease specialist. He’s called CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield “confused” about the timeline for the availability of vaccines.
With the arrival of cold weather, the virus risk is greater because people will spend more time indoors where it can spread more readily.
