A medical healthcare worker drops a specimen collection into a container after testing a motorist for COVID-19 at a community testing site in the parking lot of La Flor de Jalisco #2 in Gainesville, Ga., Friday, May 15, 2020.

A medical healthcare worker drops a specimen collection into a container after testing a motorist for COVID-19 at a community testing site in the parking lot of La Flor de Jalisco #2 in Gainesville, Ga., Friday, May 15, 2020.

Community leaders say an effort to tamp down the spread of COVID-19 is succeeding in northeast Georgia.

Gov. Brian Kemp visited Gainesville Friday to highlight the effort. Norma Hernandez of the Northeast Georgia Latino Chamber of Commerce says that over the past two weeks, community leaders have worked to present a message from people that Spanish speakers will trust.

The virus had threatened to overwhelm local nurses and take down the nation’s largest concentration of chicken processing plants.

Kemp’s visit came as Georgia neared 37,000 overall infections and more than 1,550 deaths. The state has surpassed 300,000 tests.

Tags: Coronavirus  Brian Kemp  Atlanta  Georgia  Macon  Savannah