Georgia's COVID-19 Caseload Improving, But Still In White House 'Red Zone'

Caption

Gov. Brian Kemp stands at a COVID-19 testing site in Gainesville.

Credit: Stephen Fowler | GPB News

A newly leaked report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force shows Georgia had the second-highest rate of new cases in the country last week and said improvements in test positivity rate and other metrics "need to accelerate" to curb the virus' spread.

Weekly reports from the task force dating back to June 23 have been obtained and published by the Center For Public Integrity, a nonprofit newsroom based in Washington, D.C.

"Georgia is making progress and has seen a decrease in new cases and a decrease in test positivity over the last week, but these improvements need to accelerate," the task force said. 

The most recent report, dated August 23, said that Georgia is in the "red zone" for cases, reporting 17,742 new positive cases, or 167 cases per 100,000 residents. Any state with a caseload greater than 100 cases per 100,000 residents is considered in the "red zone."

Georgia's latest numbers were a decline of more than 22% from the week before.

Georgia's test positivity rate has declined from a seven-day average as high as 14.1% July 19 to 9% as of August 23, although the weekly number of tests performed also dropped 16% from the previous week.

READ THE WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE REPORTS FOR GEORGIA

The regional and local spread of COVID-19 has improved over the previous weeks, according to the last four reports from the task force.

At the beginning of August, 110 of Georgia's 159 counties and 32 of the state's metro areas were in the "red zone" for coronavirus spread, with both elevated numbers of new cases and test positivity rates. In the most recent report, 82 counties and 21 metro areas are in the red.

Gov. Brian Kemp has been heavily criticized for his handling of the state's pandemic response, as the Republican clashed with Atlanta's mayor over a reopening rollback that caused some businesses to think they had to close. The governor also expressly banned local governments from enacting mask mandates until recently and took steps to reopen Georgia's economy before virtually every other state. 

In a fiery op-ed published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution over the weekend, Kemp assailed the paper of record's exhaustive reporting on the pandemic that has highlighted shortcomings and inequities in state and local response to the pandemic, and took umbrage to the opinion section's editorials that called for a more forceful response from the governor.

Analysis | Kemp Slams AJC For Highlighting Both Good And Bad About Coronavirus

The governor's office on Tuesday said in a statement that Georgia continues to make progress in the fight against COVID-19, and noted that three-quarters of the state's hospitals have reported fewer COVID-19 patients today than four weeks ago. 

Kemp's spokeswoman also said that the state is considering redeploying the National Guard to targeted hotspots to increase the number of Georgians getting tested and attempt to mitigate further spread.

"Across the state, demand for testing is declining despite substantial capacity," said Kemp spokeswoman Candice Broce. "We will continue to make testing available to every community, and the Governor will continue to urge Georgians to get tested."

Throughout the pandemic, state officials have used this strategy to combat one of the worst outbreaks in the country in southwest Georgia, and to address community spread in Gwinnett and Hall counties.

"Based on what we know from contact tracing and community outreach, long-term care facilities, social gatherings, religious establishments, and schools – including higher education – may be the best recipients of these enhanced resources to mitigate the spread of COVID-19," Broce said.