A Healthcare worker closes a plastic bag containing a coronavirus test kit

Brandie Hall administers a viral coronavirus test at a testing pop up in at the St. Paul AME church parking lot in Macon.

Credit: GPB News/Grant Blankenship

COVID-19 infections are rising more rapidly in Georgia, in line with a national trend of increasing cases.

A report issued by the Georgia Department of Public Health shows the broadest measure of COVID-19 cases was 18% higher in the week that ended Friday compared to the week before. Georgia has risen back above 100 weekly cases per 100,000 people, one measure of rapid spread. The state remains far off its July peaks, when it was recording the most new cases per capita nationwide.

Hospitalizations are rising, while deaths, which usually lag behind hospitalizations, have mounted more slowly in recent days. Georgia has recorded 7,827 confirmed deaths from the respiratory illness and more than 326,000 cases confirmed through genetic tests.

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