Local

97% of all Georgia nursing home residents tested for COVID-19

ATLANTA — Georgia’s Department of Public Health is releasing more numbers in the fight against COVID-19.

As of June 11, health officials have tested nearly all of Georgia’s nursing home residents -- 97 percent. Officials say that number marks a 12 percent improvement in one week. Additionally, staff testing in nursing homes is up 13 percent week-over-week.

Across all Long-Term Care Facilities with 25 beds or more, 74 percent of residents and 54 percent of staff members have now been tested, up 9 percent and 10 percent, respectively, in the last week.

Have questions about the spread of coronavirus? We have an entire section dedicated to coverage of the outbreak. CLICK HERE for more.

“Nursing homes and all long-term care facilities remain critically important battlegrounds in our fight against COVID-19,” said Governor Brian Kemp. “Thanks to the hard work of state officials from the Department of Public Health, Department of Community Health, Georgia National Guard, and Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, we are making significant progress in staff and resident testing while also supplying facilities with the resources and PPE that they need.”

Officials say out of the 6,259 residents who tested positive for COVID-19, 3,269 residents have recovered.

As of Thursday afternoon, Georgia has recorded nearly 55,000 cases through Thursday, with at least 2,375 deaths. Fatalities have averaged 33 a day over the last week, one of the highest such figures since the beginning of May.

“This pandemic has hit nursing homes across the country especially hard, and I am thankful to our team as well as private-sector partners for making every effort to protect vulnerable Georgians. In addition to encouraging testing numbers, the Department of Community Health has compiled initial reports of residents recovered from coronavirus, and we hope to see continued progress in these statistics," Kemp said.