LILBURN, Ga. — Before Gov. Brian Kemp signed a landmark piece of legislation into law, his focus was on the fight against coronavirus - specifically in Gwinnett County.
The governor visited a COVID-19 testing site at a church in Lilburn. The community is where almost half of Gwinnett County's positive test results are coming from, as our 11Alive numbers team pointed out earlier this week. Gwinnett County tops the state in the number of total cases.
Lilburn First Baptist Church, where Gov. Kemp toured, is one of two testing sites in the County. The drive-thru and walk-up site has the ability to do up to 5,000 tests daily.
Kemp said while there is an uptick in cases statewide, he said supplies of Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE, are in good shape in hospitals. He added that there is plenty of hospital capacity.
Kemp said he is not considering imposing new restrictions because of the uptick in COVID-19 cases. He also said that he is not considering making wearing masks mandatory, rather would continue to strongly encourage it. But, he's still not letting his guard down, either.
"We said when we reopen the economy, more people will get out, and when we do more testing, we are going to see more cases. That's exactly what is happening here," Kemp said.
However, the governor said that the ratio of the percent of positive cases to the number of tests is holding steady.
"Right now, statewide, we are holding our own in regards to the percent positive on the number of tests, even though our positives are going up," he said.
Health officials are still pointing to the aggressive testing for the reason why cases are continuing to climb. Kemp added that the state has not seen an uptick in cases related to continued protests.
As far as the two testing sites in Gwinnett County, the governor said they'll be open until they are no longer needed.
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