Southwest Georgia county surpasses Fulton with most COVID-19 deaths

Nearly 10,200 cases of COVID-19 reported in the state as of 7 p.m. Wednesday

Laboratory technician prepares nasal swabs to be tested for the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, (Brian Inganga, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in Georgia reached 10,189 and 369 people in the state have died of the disease, the state Department of Public Health reported Wednesday evening.

Doughtery County, in Southwest Georgia, surpassed Fulton County with the most deaths -- 62 in Dougherty vs. 42 in Fulton -- despite the county where Albany is located having less than one-tenth the population of the county which contains the city of Atlanta.

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Fulton still has the most cases in the state, 1,269, with Dougherty at 1,003. Other Atlanta metro counties of DeKalb, Cobb and Gwinnett all have over 500 cases.

In Southeast Georgia, Ware County is the hardest hit, with 43 cases and three deaths -- two men and a woman. Neighboring Brantley and Pierce counties each have one death, with 39 cases in Pierce and five cases reported in Brantley.

Glynn County has 32 cases, Camden has 19 and Charlton still has three.

Savannah’s Chatham County has seen four deaths and 123 cases as of 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

There are 2,082 people hospitalized in the state -- that’s 20% of those testing positive. The majority of cases in Georgia are women -- 54%.

The biggest age group with this disease is 18-59, while only 35% are over 60, although the majority of the deaths are in the oldest age group, including four of the five people who have died in Southeast Georgia.

At last check, 38,787 tests had been performed in Georgia, according to DPH.

Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday that he was extending Georgia’s state of emergency for another month as coronavirus deaths and infections continue to climb across the state.

Kemp’s executive order extends the public health emergency through May 13. It had been set to expire next Monday.