A total of 17,397 new cases of coronavirus and 13 more virus-related deaths were reported across Georgia on Tuesday by the state’s Department of Public Health.
According to the latest update by the DPH issued just before 3 pm, there have been 1,493,254 confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide since the beginning of this pandemic. The state’s death toll now stands at 26,472. The number of confirmed cases totaled 17,698 in Floyd County, which has additionally had a total of 326 fatalities. Fulton County has had the most confirmed cases in this state with 146,203 and the most deaths with 1,736.
As of the most recent update to the vaccine dashboard Tuesday, 13,494,961 vaccines have been administered across this state; 61 percent of all Georgians have received at least a dose of the vaccine, while 53 percent have been fully vaccinated. Among those fully vaccinated Georgians, 32 percent have had an additional dose; 17 percent of residents statewide have had the booster.
Get more information about COVID-19 and vaccination in Georgia from the state Department of Public Health’s website at www.dph.georgia.gov.
The Floyd County Health Department is not dispensing the free, take-home Covid rapid tests, as stated on Wednesday in a press release from the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Northwest Health District.
“We’re getting walk-ins and calls from people saying they heard on the news or otherwise promoted that we’re doing so, and that simply isn’t the case,” says health department Nurse Manager Alison Watson. “We wish we were in a position to do this, but right now we’re not and currently have no plans to do so.”
Watson says news reports out of metro Atlanta about DeKalb County government distributing free rapid tests might have caused some of the confusion.