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Eight more cases of COVID-19 were reported from Forsyth County on Thursday by the Georgia Department of Public Health, bringing the local count to 109.
Confirmed cases and deaths continue to grow statewide, with 10,885 and 412, respectively, after the DPH's daily status report at 7 p.m., though official counts likely lag to delays in reporting, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 21% of cases have required hospitalization.
Forsyth has seen two deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2: two men ages 60 and 87, respectively. Neither were known to have underlying medical conditions.
Symptoms of COVID-19 can include fever, cough and breathing trouble. Most develop only mild symptoms, but some people, usually those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal.
Little information has been made available about individual cases. Georgia has generally released few details at the county level, though it has started to provide more information about individual deaths. On Friday, April 3, the state released a list of confirmed cases from long-term care facilities for the first time. Forsyth County had one, an individual at The Mann House on Majors Road.
The state also released a breakdown of cases by race for the first time Thursday. Black Americans account for 21.3% of cases, followed by white Americans with 15.8%. The race of 57% of cases are still unknown "due to facilities not providing it when they report," said Nancy Nydam, director of communications with the DPH.
During a regular meeting of the Forsyth County Commission on Thursday, April 2, Dr. Scott Cooper, a neurologist at Northside Hospital Forsyth and husband of District 1 Commissioner Molly Cooper, reported there were 10 patients in the hospital's ICU that were positive for COVID-19.
Other positive cases from Forsyth County have been Publix employees at locations on McGinnis Ferry Road and Buford Highway and an employee of Panduit Corporation's manufacturing plant on Atlanta Highway.
On Monday, March 30, officials with Scientific Games said it took steps to clean the gaming and lottery company's manufacturing facility in south Forsyth after an employee with one of the company's suppliers visited and later tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Forsyth County's first death related to COVID-19 was reported on Tuesday, March 24 by the GDPH.
