The Georgia Department of Public Health on Wednesday reported 55 additional coronavirus-related deaths.
According to the state Department of Public Health, a total of 4,849 people have died in Georgia since the pandemic began.
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On Wednesday, the state added 2,305 new COVID-19 cases. The statewide total has reached 243,982 cases. (Note: News4Jax tracks totals from one day to the next and our changes do not always match the “reported today” numbers on Georgia’s state database.)
In the Southeast Georgia counties tracked by News4Jax, 47 new cases were reported Wednesday: 19 in Glynn County, 15 in Camden County, six in Ware County, five in Charlton County and two in Brantley County. No new cases were reported Wednesday in Pierce County.
Glynn, Pierce and Ware counties each recorded an additional death on Wednesday.
As of Wednesday, the total number of hospitalizations statewide stood at 22,664 — 235 of which were reported in the last 24 hours. The state admits the total number of hospitalizations is likely an underestimation since it only counted if it was at the time the case was reported to DPH. The number also does not represent the number of people currently hospitalized.
Nearly 2.1 million people have been tested in the state, which had a 10.7% positivity rate, as of Wednesday.
On Monday, a longtime county commissioner in Georgia died after more than two weeks in the hospital battling the coronavirus.
Chatham County Commissioner James Holmes of Savannah was 82. His wife, Yvonne Holmes, confirmed his death to news outlets. She said her husband had been hospitalized with COVID-19 since July 30.
“This is something of a reminder, and I don’t think we need this occasion to remind folks of it, of how serious the coronavirus really is,” Al Scott, chairman of the Chatham County Commission, told reporters at a news conference.
Holmes was a former high school basketball coach who had also worked as an assistant coach at Savannah State University. Scott said that Holmes planned to leave office at the end of the year after serving on the commission since 2005.
Common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, breathing trouble, sore throat, muscle pain, and loss of taste or smell. Most people develop only mild symptoms. But some people, usually those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report