The latest count of confirmed COVID-19 cases comes at noon and 7 p.m. every day.

Since the Coastal Health District started releasing numbers at the start of the pandemic, the number of cases in the eight-county district had grown to 64. Five of those confirmed cases were in Liberty County. One was in Long.

Chatham County leads the district with 25 confirmed cases, and Coastal Georgia’s first deaths due to the coronavirus were from Chatham – an 83-year-old man and 84-year old female, both of whom had existing medical conditions, according to the CHD’s Sally Silbermann. 

As of noon Tuesday, there were 3,817 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state of

Georgia and 818 people hospitalized. 

There were 108 deaths. 

Cases have appeared in areas all across Georgia, and more confirmed cases are expected as testing increases and the virus spreads.

Older adults and people who have severe underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes are at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19. Younger adults can also suffer serious medical difficulties.

All Georgians play a critical role in helping to slow the spread of COVID-19 by practicing social distancing, and sick people should self-isolate if they develop symptoms of COVID-19.

For accurate information about COVID-19 in our area, visit the Georgia Department of Public Health at dph.ga.gov, or the Coastal Health District at GaCHD.org.

Notes: 

During a press briefing Tuesday, Dr. Lawton Davis, CHD’s health director, said a good bit.  

Here’s an excerpt:

“Here in Chatham County some who focus only on the “numbers” seem to believe that we’ve been relatively lucky thus far; maybe we have. But in no way should we be complacent. One need look no further than Dougherty County / Albany, Georgia to get an inkling of how serious the situation truly is.  Dougherty County is in the top 4 counties in the nation in cases per capita and has had more COVID-19 related deaths than any other county in Georgia.  The last time I checked it is much more rural and isolated than is Chatham County, and it is also quite a bit smaller in population.

“Using the retro-spectoscope, we know that it generally takes at least 3, and usually 4-6 weeks from the time of the first documented cases in a community before the situation in that community potentially explodes. Our first cases in Chatham County were confirmed about  1 ½ weeks ago. I fully expect our numbers to increase very rapidly over the next several weeks. And please remember that these numbers only represent the positive tests that were collected here locally where testing has here-to-fore been very limited. We have no way to know how many people may have entered our communities from other parts of the state or country who are confirmed positive, and no way to know the number of local folks who have had very mild symptoms and who have not been tested.

“This is truly a very serious situation. We should all focus on social distancing and ‘good public health hygiene’ to the extreme rather than just focusing on the ‘numbers.’ The “numbers” we’re seeing now are really a retrospective glimpse of what was happening 7 – 10 days ago and is not indicative of the current situation. Unfortunately, it will remain like this until we have the ability to perform “real time” screening as we can do with influenza and HIV – a simple, cheap test that provides rapid and reliable results.”