GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — With Gov. Brian Kemp's order to begin Georgia's reopening process turning two weeks old today, 11Alive is looking at how things have developed since then.
It's understood that, because of how the coronavirus takes time to incubate and how symptoms develop, there is a distinct lag between the conditions that create cases and when we actually recognize whether those conditions created more or fewer cases.
Two weeks from the day businesses such as salons, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys were allowed to reopen - albeit under strict guidelines - does not give us a perfect understanding of the implications of Georgia's reopening.
Nothing could, given how we only have imperfect data to work with (for a number of reasons), and given that there are more factors that go into the rise and fall of cases than just the governor's orders.
But we do have good data, and we can get a decent sense of how things are going. It will take weeks to have a true concrete sense of what resulted from reopen, but that doesn't mean we can't glance now at how things stand.
Gwinnett County
At 11Alive, we're using a 14-day moving average to look at case totals. Case totals can be an imperfect indicator and do not offer a definitive answer to the most important question - is the coronavirus situation here getting better or worse?
But it is one of the most significant benchmarks in President Trump's guidelines for reopening the country, and therefore one of the things we - and everyone else - has to try and assess.
Why a 14-day average? Again, it's the standard presented by the White House.
Gwinnett County has experienced a stark rise, more noticeable and consistent than any other surrounding county. In the last two weeks, there have been 11 days with 50 or more newly reported cases.
That said, you can't really trace any of that rise directly to the April 24 start of reopening. The trend has been broadly noticeable since early April. After an initial spike at the start of things, the county has continued to see a steady, though slower, rise.
It's something of an outlier relative to other Atlanta-area counties, and it's not immediately clear what in Gwinnett County might be driving that particular spread.
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.
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