By the numbers: As national emergency ends, here is how COVID-19 impacted Georgia

Abraham Kenmore, Augusta Chronicle
·2 min read
A nurse at AU Health System delivers a COVID-19 vaccine shot to a patient in this photo from 2021. AU recently received a $2.2 million gift to help fund its program that accelerates medical students' graduations so they can practice in rural areas.

COVID-19 has receded, not vanished, but as of Thursday the official national emergency will be declared over.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,131,819 people died of COVID across the country at last count. Georgia is still seeing 10 to 30 deaths each week, according to Dr. Chris Rustin, the deputy commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, in reporting by Capitol Beat.

But with the end of the national emergency will come an end to the kind of data collection that the CDC and DPH have been publishing throughout the pandemic.

As of Wednesday, here is what we know about the impact of COVID on the state and the public health response:

No more emergency? End of public health emergency in Georgia won't affect COVID vaccines, testing for now

Topline numbers: How did Georgia fare?

All numbers are from the Department of Public Health and were current as of Wednesday, May 10.

  • Confirmed cases: 2,362,831

  • Confirmed deaths: 35,376

  • Probable deaths: 7,406

  • Hospitalizations: 140,279

  • ICU Admissions: 17,885

  • Total number of PCR/Molecular tests: 22,239,924

County by County

As of the end of April, here are the total case counts for some of Georgia's metro counties outside of Atlanta, along with the total number of deaths.

Augusta-Richmond County

  • Case Count: 60,937

  • Total Deaths: 786

Athens-Clarke County

  • Case Count: 35,539

  • Total Deaths: 251

Chatham County

  • Case Count: 80,204

  • Total Deaths: 946

Columbus-Muscogee County

  • Case Count: 46,346

  • Total Deaths: 816

Previously: Cities help thousands with rental assistance despite paperwork requirements

Government response across the state

In response the pandemic and the following economic drop, government bodies rolled out a number of assistance programs, including rental assistance, Paycheck Protection Program loans and more. Here are some of those numbers for some of Georgia's metro areas outside of Atlanta.

Augusta-Richmond County

  • Total PPP loans approved: 8,348

  • Total PPP loans forgiven: 7,049

  • Total amount of loans initially approved: $438,677,563

  • Total amount of loans forgiven: $409,667,069

Athens-Clarke County

  • Total PPP loans approved: 4,896

  • Total PPP loans forgiven: 4,409

  • Total amount of loans initially approved: $281,525,404

  • Total amount of loans forgiven: $266,858,214

Chatham County

  • Total PPP loans approved: 12,651

  • Total PPP loans forgiven: 11,076

  • Total amount of loans initially approved $732,340,356

  • Total amount of loans forgiven: $693,127,769

Columbus-Muscogee County

  • Total PPP loans approved: 10,129

  • Total PPP loans forgiven: 8,154

  • Total amount of loans initially approved: $411,679,030

  • Total amount of loans forgiven: $372,818,054

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: COVID-19 numbers in Georgia, as national emergency ends