Whitfield County reached a grim milestone Sunday, surpassing 1,000 cases of people testing positive for the coronavirus – as the state of Georgia set records for newly reported cases for three straight days over the weekend.
Whitfield County reported its first coronavirus case on March 18. It took nearly three months for the county to reach 500 cases. It did so on June 8.
Only 21 days later, cases doubled in Whitfield County. As of Monday afternoon there were 1,055 COVID-19 cases, and the virus continues to affect the Hispanic population disproportionately.
Hispanics make up about one third of the population in Whitfield County, and they make up more than two-thirds of the COVID-19 cases, officials said.
Hospitalizations for the virus are also on the rise. On June 17 there were 39 hospitalizations in Whitfield County. That number is now 50.