Photograph by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images
On Thursday, unemployment claims were down slightly but still high. Here’s your Friday morning update:
• As of publication time, a total of 49,847 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Georgia. 2,147 people have died. 590,957 tests (virus and antibody) have been conducted. A total of 8,557 of those tested were hospitalized at the time. [GA Dept. of Public Health]
• 149,163 unemployment claims were processed last week, down from the previous week but still an above-average amount, according to the AJC. Many are also beginning to lose benefits, whether from businesses re-opening (workers who don’t feels safe returning to work can only continue to claim benefits in certain instances) or schools closing for the summer rather than due to the pandemic. Nationally, unemployment for May was 13.3 percent, down from 14.7 percent in April. [AJC]
• The federal government is now requiring nursing homes and senior care facilities to report suspected COVID-19 infections and deaths in addition to confirmed ones. This has lead to some differences between numbers previously reported to the state, according to the AJC. For example, the federal count for Atlanta’s Legacy Transitional Care & Rehabilitation is 33 resident deaths and five employee deaths, but the state count shows just 11 deaths. You can view numbers for other facilities here. [AJC]
• The Georgia legislature will resume on June 15 after being paused for three months due to COVID-19. [WABE]
• The Atlanta Black Writers Weekend, already postponed due to COVID-19, will be held digitally this year from August 27-29. The AJC spoke with creator Tamika Newhouse about the festival’s impact since its inception in 2008 and the decision to go digital. [AJC]
• For the first time since March, Phoebe Putney Health System in Albany, where the COVID-19 outbreak was once one of the worst in the country, has no COVID-19 patients in its main hospital. There are still 42 patients being treated at Albany at Phoebe North and Sumter County hospital, but Phoebe Putney CEO Scott Steiner calls it an “important milestone.” [AJC]
