Trump Declares GA Major Disaster As Coronavirus Cases Top 2.6K

GEORGIA — As deaths from coronavirus continue to rise in Georgia, President Donald Trump declared Sunday that a major disaster exists in the state. With it, he ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the coronavirus pandemic beginning on Jan. 20, and continuing.

The White House said in a press release that "federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments, and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance, for all areas in the state of Georgia impacted by coronavirus."

Pete Gaynor, an administrator with Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security, named Gracia Szczech as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas.

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further assessments.

Gov. Brian Kemp declared a public health emergency effective March 14, the first of its kind for the state.

"Based on President Trump's emergency declaration, I will declare a public health emergency for the State of Georgia tomorrow morning," Kemp said on March 13. "This declaration will greatly assist health and emergency management officials across Georgia by deploying all available resources for the mitigation and treatment of COVID-19."

As the number of coronavirus cases in Georgia climbed by nearly 200 overnight, officials at Emory University said researchers are participating in a clinical trial testing a vaccine for the prevention of coronavirus, the first such vaccine to be tested in the United States. The Georgia Department of Public Health has updated its coronavirus website to now include the age, county and if a person had an underlying condition of the 80 people who have died as of Sunday afternoon.

New numbers released at noon on Sunday show 2,651 total confirmed coronavirus cases in Georgia, 666 hospitalized and 80 deaths.

As of Sunday afternoon, Fulton County's 407 cases are the most of any Georgia locality. The next highest totals are 272 in DeKalb County, 239 in Dougherty County, 222 in Cobb County, 143 in Gwinnett County and 119 in Bartow County.

Of those counties, Dougherty has the most deaths in the state with 17. Fulton has had 12 deaths, Cobb had nine, Lee has had six, Fayette and DeKalb have each had three, and Clarke, Coweta, Terrell has each had two deaths.

The Georgia Department of Public Health is now including details of those deaths.

The oldest person to die in Georgia from coronavirus was a 95-year-old man from Baker County. It is unknown if he had underlying medical conditions, the report shows.

The youngest person was a 29-year-old woman from Peach County. It is also unknown if she had underlying health conditions.

Of Georgia's coronavirus cases, 56 percent are between ages 18 and 59, while those above the age of 60 make up 35 percent. People up to age 17 represent 1 percent of cases, and the remaining percentage of cases have unknown ages.

Commercial laboratories have conducted 10,669 tests, and 2,360 came back positive for COVID-19. Among the Georgia Department of Health's 1,895 completed tests, 291 came back positive.

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More than 685,000 COVID-19 cases are confirmed worldwide and more than 32,000 people have died, Johns Hopkins reported Sunday afternoon. The U.S. has over 125,000 cases, the most of any country as of Sunday.

Over 2,100 deaths have been tied to the virus in the U.S. New York has seen the most deaths from coronavirus, with more than 670 people dying from the virus.

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