The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is committed to providing our readers with the most comprehensive coverage of the deadly coronavirus.
This blog will be updated throughout Friday, March 27, with news and details of COVID-19 in Georgia.
» Complete coverage: Coronavirus
7 p.m.: The Georgia Department of Public Health announced there has been one more death from COVID-19 reported since noon, bringing the state's toll to 65. As Chelsea Prince and Zachary Hansen report, the state topped 2,000 cases at noon, and the DPH recorded an additional 129 cases since then, bringing the total to 2,130. Of those patients, 586 are hospitalized, which is about 27.5% of all cases.
6:30 p.m.: Across the nine northeast Georgia mountain counties, the Georgia Department of Public Health had found and confirmed only nine cases of COVID-19 by noon Friday. But, as Zachary Hansen reports, more than half of those nine counties declared states of emergency this past week, with one making it illegal for Atlantans to visit.
5:30 p.m.: People visiting the Atlanta Beltline this weekend will be greeted with an ominous, once-unthinkable message: "Go home, y'all." Tamar Hallerman reports it's one of several new signs posted along the popular network of trails and surrounding green spaces as Beltline officials discourage crowds.
4 p.m.: Whether you need help paying bills, with your mortgage or rent, or food stamp assistance, we've put all the resources you need in one place.
Noon:
11:45 a.m.: With Georgia's economy shrinking because of the coronavirus pandemic, House Speaker David Ralston said Friday that the state may not be able to afford the teacher pay raise the governor wants and the income tax cut House Republicans have advocated. James Salzer has the details.
» Your money: Resources during the coronavirus pandemic
11:15 a.m.:
10:30 a.m.:
8:30 a.m.: The rapidly growing rate of coronavirus infections has Albany under siege, Brad Shrade and Johnny Edwards report. Its main hospital is so overrun with sick and dying patients, nurses had been told to keep working even if they test positive themselves.
6 a.m.: Even before House Speaker David Ralston weighed in, suggesting that it be postponed by more than a month, Georgia's May 19 primaries were shaping up to be a beast of a vote. Jim Galloway has details in the Political Insider blog.
6 a.m.: Georgia colleges and universities are holding classes remotely for the rest of the semester after closing their campuses earlier this month to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Eric Stirgus reports on how that's going.
» Coronavirus in Georgia: stats in real time
» A look at major coronavirus developments in Georgia over the past week
OVERNIGHT
- Greg Bluestein's complete coverage of Gov. Brian Kemp's statewide televised event, during which he pleaded with Georgians to stay home and practice social distancing even as he stressed more drastic measures weren't yet needed to stem the disease's spread.
- Georgia is under a particularly brutal siege from the novel coronavirus, a situation unlikely to end for weeks, or even longer.
- The United States' number of confirmed coronavirus cases passed China, which means the US currently has more confirmed cases than any other country.
» This map tracks the coronavirus globally in real time
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