Neighboring Georgia county reports 80 cases

The Georgia Department of Public Health is now reporting 80 cases of COVID-19 in Toccoa-Stephens County. As of 11 a.m. Friday, the Department of Public Health updated its website to reflect the most current numbers. Habersham County has been hit the hardest with 315 positive cases of the virus and eight fatalities due to complications from the virus. Locally, at Stephens County Hospital, staff have tested 515 individuals for the virus. Of those, 61 tests have come back positive, 428 received negative results, and 26 individuals are still awaiting their results. In other neighboring counties, Banks County has a total of 25 cases, Rabun County has 13 cases, Franklin County has 18 cases and one death, and Hart County has 10 cases. Across the state of Georgia, the Department of Public Health is reporting a total of 27,023 cases, of those, 5,218 have been hospitalized and 1,140 have died from complications of the virus. Both the Georgia Department of Public Health and the Stephens County Hospital continue to post daily updates on their website at dph.georgia.gov and stephenscountyhospital.com.