GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A new forecast from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was released Thursday said the United States could reach 150,000 coronavirus-related deaths by the middle of next month.
The country currently stands at 122,000 deaths.
Georgia's case count is now 71,095. That is up another 1,700 from yesterday's count and up 10,183 cases from a week ago.
Data compiled by Alpharetta-based IPC Global shows the daily coronavirus case count average is trending up 44.7% a day.
The majority of new cases involve people ages 18 to 39, whose cases, in general, are less severe.
That's reflected in the death rate, which is down.
IPC said the 21-day trend for deaths is down 0.5% per day.
Across the metro, Fulton County increased by 167 cases from Tuesday to Wednesday, followed by Cobb and Dekalb at 135 and 116.
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Gwinnett County is now topping the state for the amount of people with COVID-19, seeing more than 500 new cases in the last 48 hours.
Health officials told Channel 2′s Tom Regan that the county has more than 7,000 cases of coronavirus but the virus is not taking a toll on hospitals.
Officials said those rising numbers are largely the result of more testing and, just as important, they say there's still plenty of critical care capacity in area hospitals.
Drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites in Gwinnett are getting as popular as drive-thru fast food restaurants.
More and more people, at younger ages, are taking advantage of the free tests.
Jay Kim told Regan he doesn't want to bring the virus home to his parents.
“I just wanted to take a test to make sure,” Kim said.
Two trends are emerging with the coronavirus in Georgia: a surge in positive cases -- over 1,000 a day statewide -- and a spike of infections in those under 30. That age range has the fastest growth in cases.
“Until this is over, I’m not going to no party. I feel everyone should stay inside,” said Armani Warner, 19.
Just a few weeks ago, about 9% of COVID-19 tests in the county were positive. The number now is over 13%.
“The more we test, the more cases we find. Our positivity rate for the cases has increased,” said Dr. Audrey Arona, director of the Gwinnett Newton Rockdale Health Department.
With over 7,000 cases, Gwinnett leads the state and is third in deaths with over 160. But there is also some good news.
“We are not experiencing an increase in the death rate and we are also seeing the median age of cases decrease,” Arona said.
Arona also said the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county is falling. She credits that to people keeping up their mask-wearing when they can't social distance, even as the economy opens wider and the virus appears less present.
“The whole message of community mitigation strategies has worked. And Gwinnett is a great example of that,” Arona said.