The Georgia Department of Public Health released the new numbers in regards to COVID-19 at noon on Monday and they showed a large increase over the previous 24 hours. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases jumped from 600 to 772. The number of deaths associated with the virus went from 23 to 25.
Males and females are both being hit equally hard by the virus. The 18-59 age group is making up the majority of positive cases of COVID-19 taking up a whopping 59% of the total number of confirmed cases. The over 60 age group comes in at a distant 36% while the under 18 age group makes up for 1% of the total. The unknown age category stands at 4%.
Gwinnett’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen from 27 cases to 34 cases. Fulton continues to see the largest number of positive cases and jumped from 108 to 145 overnight. That’s an increase of 37 new cases in 24 hours. Other hard-hit counties are Cobb 79 (+18), DeKalb 75 (+30), Doughtery 64, and Bartow 61 (+4). A few of Gwinnett’s other neighbors are Hall 10 (+1), Forsyth 7 (+4), and Barrow 1 (0).
The CDC is reporting that the United States now has a total of 33,404 confirmed cases of COVID-19. On Friday, the number was just 10,442. In just the matter of a couple of days, the number of positive cases has almost tripled. The number of deaths has spiked to 400 lives lost to the virus. On Friday that number was only 150 deaths.
Checking in with the World Health Organization, they are reporting 332,935 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in 189 countries/areas. A total of 14,510 deaths have occurred thanks to the virus worldwide. Italy is being hit especially hard at the moment and has well surpassed China’s total number of deaths associated with the virus with 5,476 Italians dead because of the virus.
The United States is now third in the world for the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases behind only China and Italy. The United States hospital system cannot support the sort of numbers it is seeing for long. Ventilators are in short supply and that is the main piece of medical equipment needed to save the life of someone battling this virus. Hospitals are worrying about having to choose who they are going to save like the doctors in Italy.
Americans are being urged to shelter in place or simply stay home for the next few weeks to allow the transmission of the virus to slow down. Only leave your home for essential supplies or emergencies if at all possible. If you do leave your home, you should be using hand sanitizer and washing your hands frequently. Try to stay six feet away from others according to the CDC as the transmission is caused by respiratory droplets when another infected person coughs or sneezes and the droplets then land in your mouth or nose or is inhaled into your lungs.
The virus is said to be able to live on surfaces for a period of time. Those surfaces and time the virus stays alive are cardboard for up to 24 hours, copper up to four hours, plastic and steel for three days. Most deliveries take more than 24 hours to arrive making the virus less of a threat unless the delivery person coughs or sneezes on packages. If you are concerned, spray packages with Lysol or wipe them down with a disinfectant.
