COVID-19 Cases

The leader of a north Georgia megachurch who has been a spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump has tested positive for COVID-19. News outlets report Jentezen Franklin was absent from Sunday services at Free Chapel in Gainesville.

A record number of people are in hospitals in Georgia with confirmed COVID-19 infections. That's another signal that infections are now more widespread than at the previous peak over the summer. In Atlanta, COVID Survivors for Change set out 1,000 chairs near the state capitol to remember people who have died from the respiratory illness. 

Cases of COVID-19 at UGA jumped up after Thanksgiving for the week of November 30th to December 4th. 2130 asymptomatic tests were performed and 89 of them were positive, bringing the positivity rate up from 0.79% the previous week to a little over 4%.  

An additional 86 positive cases were reported from the Health Center and other off-campus testing facilities, bringing the total to 175 new cases.
The state health department says there are more than 456-thousand total cases in Georgia and 9,073 deaths. In Clarke County there are 7,190 cases and 56 deaths.

As COVID-19 continue to rise in Georgia, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold D. Melton is urging the state’s courts to reevaluate resuming jury trials and other in-person court proceedings.

In a statement Wednesday, Melton said judges may need to reverse course on the in-person hearings if the spread of the virus prevents them from doing so safely. Melton made the statement after signing his ninth order extending the statewide judicial emergency he first announced March 14, 2020 due to the pandemic. The new order extends the judicial emergency another 30 days to Jan. 8.