ATLANTA — The latest report from the White House coronavirus task force said that the pandemic in Georgia is continuing to improve - with fewer daily cases - but it warned that testing statewide must ramp up.
The state, the report said, has seen a "decrease in new cases and stability in test positivity over the last week."
On Tuesday, state data from the Georgia Department of Public Health showed that there were only 936 new COVID-19 cases, below the recent state average. Hospitalizations also appear to be holding steady.
Georgia has made progress, the report said, but, in order to sustain the gains "should continue the strong mitigation efforts statewide and continue mitigation efforts in university towns to decrease spread from universities to the local community," the report said.
"Mitigation efforts must continue to include mask wearing, physical distancing, hand hygiene, and avoiding crowds," the report recommended.
While the report, dated Oct. 4, said that the gains are encouraging, the report warned that Georgia "must increase testing statewide."
The report said that the state's universities and colleges must continue the process of rapid testing, surveillance and contact tracing on campus to find asymptomatic students.
As part of this, the report said, universities should consider antibody testing both on and off campus students to determine the level of infection among students in the fall to inform decisions for the spring semester.
11Alive is focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. We want to keep you informed about the latest developments while ensuring that we deliver confirmed, factual information.
We will track the most important coronavirus elements relating to Georgia on this page. Refresh often for new information.