Georgia Coronavirus cases grow to 99; Cobb total reaches 19

Cobb Commissioners Coronavirus meeting

On Sunday the Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in Georgia went from 66 on Saturday to 99.

The number of cases in Cobb grew from 15 to 19 during that time, and Fulton now has the highest number of cases in the state with 20.

The daily status report is here; it is updated each day at noon.

Some readers have wondered why there isn’t more information than raw numbers being reported, and that simply putting out those numbers alone is just alarming people.

We’re not trying to do that, but passing along the information that is being provided.

Some of the Georgia DPH updates have included how those people testing positive for the disease may have gotten it—travel overseas, etc.—but the figures in those daily status reports don’t contain that.

When we get more of those details, we will include them, and will try to explain them and put them into context as best we can. Bear with this; this is new and uncharted territory for government agencies, health experts, the public, the news media and everyone else, and it’s fast-moving.

Our purpose isn’t to do a daily report with just the new case numbers and nothing else, but to illustrate how fast that total is climbing, and what public health officials and government agencies are doing in response.

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As the number of people being tested grows, so will the number of confirmed cases. We still aren’t being told how many people are being tested in Georgia, only that state health labs have the capacity to process 100 specimens a day.

The goal by the end of that week is 200 specimens a day, but without a better understanding of how widespread the testing is, those numbers don’t mean much.

There’s still so much about Coronavirus that we don’t understand and are trying to grapple with on the fly. At East Cobb News we do a lot of real-time reporting and updates and have every intent to expand on the raw numbers and latest developments.

Our main objective is help our community better understand what is happening, and how to navigate what’s becoming a dramatic new normal for all of us, and for some time to come.

Per Gov. Brian Kemp’s address on Saturday, Georgia is in a public health emergency. He has asked the legislature to convene Monday for a special session to ratify executive orders to address the crisis, including calling up the Georgia National Guard.

Also on Monday, the Cobb Board of Commissioners will be holding a special meeting to be briefed on the county’s response. That meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. and can be seen on the county’s YouTube and Facebook pages and Website, and CobbTV, Channel 23 on Comcast cable.

We’ll be reporting on that, and in the coming days we’ll be updating other community responses, including how you can help those in need during this crisis, what’s happening to those people who think they may have Coronavirus, how local businesses are faring and how citizens, families and organizations are practicing “social distancing.”

If you have any questions, suggestions or news tips related to covering Coronavirus as it affects us here in East Cobb and the larger Cobb community, please get in touch: editor@eastcobbnews.com.

 

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