Local News

With More in Hospital, Kemp Says Georgia Gaining on COVID-19

WUGA | By Alexia Ridley

Published June 24, 2020 at 5:35 PM EDT

1 of 2

A traveler has a terminal shuttle to himself at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Monday, June 1, 2020.

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

2 of 2

Walmart pharmacist Shama Sarangi times a motorist doing a self swab to ensure a good sample at a new mobile COVID-19 drive-through testing site to serve rural stretches of Georgia, on Thursday, April 23, 2020, in Hephzibah..

Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

Gov. Brian Kemp says Georgia “continues to make solid progress" against COVID-19 even as the number of people hospitalized with the respiratory illness continued to rise. In a recorded video that his office released Wednesday, Kemp noted the state's efforts to build temporary hospitals and urged people to stay vigilant against infection.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp wears a mask and urged fellow citizens to do the same after touring the temporary medical pod that has been placed at the Phoebe North Campus of Phoebe Putney Health System on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Albany, Ga. The pod arrived on April 15 and is scheduled to begin operations on Wednesday, May 6, housing 24 beds to treat non-critical COVID-19 patients.

Data released later Wednesday show that the number of people hospitalized with coronavirus infections rose above 1,100. That's a 44% increase since the number of hospitalized people bottomed out on June 7. Department of Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said Monday that the increasing number of hospitalizations represents a real increase in the disease level.