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Thursday, November 12, 2026Nov 12

Hancock County, Georgia, reaches a grim COVID milestone

Amariel Yehudah walks his dog Draco in downtown Sparta. Yehudah was shocked to learn his community was a coronavirus hotspot. / Grant Blankenship, GPB News
Amariel Yehudah walks his dog Draco in downtown Sparta. Yehudah was shocked to learn his community was a coronavirus hotspot. / Grant Blankenship, GPB News Amariel Yehudah walks his dog Draco in downtown Sparta. Yehudah was shocked to learn his community was a coronavirus hotspot. / Grant Blankenship, GPB News

Hancock County has long had more per capita deaths from COVID-19 than any other county in Georgia. But now it has reached a different, grimmer milestone.

Hancock County has experienced one COVID-19 death for every 100 residents. Only two other regions in the nation, rural counties in Virginia and Texas, have met that same rate of pandemic death, which is five times that of Atlanta’s Fulton County.

Adrick Ingram is a funeral director and the elected coroner in Hancock County, population around 8,600, situated between Atlanta and Augusta.

(READ MORE: Georgia schools going virtual due to COVID spike)

“So I’ve seen families in shock because someone who was relatively healthy left home feeling ill but not returned,” Ingram said.