LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — 11Alive is tracking the rise of COVID-19 across Georgia.
The latest numbers from the Department of Public Health show another 733 news cases reported. And we now know a lot of those new numbers are coming from Gwinnett County.
Dr. Sujatha Reddy said she's not surprised to see numbers going up as more people are going out, but where it's jumping higher is surprising.
"I think what's a little bit different is that we're seeing a whole new resurgence of coronavirus in a new area which is Gwinnett County," said Reddy.
In fact, the daily number of new cases in Gwinnett has been two to three times higher than the daily number of new cases in Fulton.
Reddy said there could be many factors.
"So, if there was a cookout of 10 people on Memorial Day and those 10 people went to their respective homes, we could see an increase from one or two social events like that," said Reddy.
11Alive spoke to the Gwinnett Board of Health and they said it could also be because they have new testing sites and more people are being tested. So, the more you look the more you will find.
Dr. Reddy said that makes sense, and while any increase is noteworthy, the real number to watch is hospitalizations:
Over the past month, the number of hospitalizations in Gwinnett County has increased slightly but very slowly. Reddy said that's good news.
"It's not going to be a surprise to see even more of an increase but, hopefully, not a really rapid one that would overwhelm the healthcare system and I don't think that's gonna happen," she said.
More good news is that the rate of COVID-19 related deaths in Gwinnett County is staying steady which means people who are catching it are likely recovering.
Dr. Reddy said she expects the numbers of new cases to keep increasing in all counties, but hopes they stay steady enough for kids to go back to school.
"If the cases are mostly in younger people who don't require hospitalizations, I think we should be OK and won't have to do shelter in place again," Reddy said.
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