Epik Fail Hack Fallout II: TX GOP Website Targeted in Retaliation for Anti-Abortion Law

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Monday October 04, 2021 · 12:05 PM PDT

2021/10/04 · 12:05

SCOOP: hacktivists leak data from the Texas GOP as part of Operation Epik Fail. It appears to be a backup of the Texas GOP server and includes sensitive documents, a database, and more.

Twitter Post of Anonymous Press Release 10/4/21

The release claims to be a bootable disk image of the entire TX GOP website. It is said to contain. . .

". . .private documents, a database, articles that didn’t make the narrative cut, dark memes(?), and only Raptor Jesus knows what else."

As yet, the authenticity of the information is being confirmed by Daily Dot who received the disk.

In addition, the “Texas GOP website had been defaced by Anonymous in retaliation for the state’s controversial abortion ban on Sept. 11.”

The hack appears to be ancillary to the Anonymous “Operation Jane,” which is directed against anti-choice states.

EDIT for clarification: The TX GOP website is hosted by Epik, owned by Rob Monster and today’s release adds to the data trove reported in Epik Fail Hack Fallout: the Tax Angle -- Possible Money Laundering & Donald Trump, Too.

Epik also hosts the Texas Right to Life website, and anti-abortion snitch website.

What Do These Three Nouns Have in Common? "Panama," "Paradise," "Pandora"

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Sunday October 03, 2021 · 3:32 PM PDT

2021/10/03 · 15:32

Biggest Leak of Secret Offshore Accounts in History

Calling the trove of financial information leaked by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists the “Pandora Papers,” selected news outlets the world over have published stories of hidden wealth secreted in offshore accounts. Who makes up this population of super wealthy tax avoiders and evaders? . . .

. . .35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories, and a global lineup of fugitives, con artists and murderers. The list of some of the most familiar players on the world stage includes THE:

King of Jordan, presidents of Ukraine, Kenya and Ecuador, prime minister of the Czech Republic and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. . .Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “unofficial minister of propaganda”. . .India’s cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar, pop music diva Shakira, supermodel Claudia Schiffer and an Italian mobster known as “Lell the Fat One”. . .mobster, Raffaele Amato

The creation and scope of the offshore system involves key players from – multinational banks, law firms and accounting practices – headquartered in the U.S. and Europe and

highlights how Baker McKenzie, the largest law firm in the U.S., helped create the modern offshore system and continues to be a mainstay of this shadow economy.

Six years ago a similar scheme, branded the “Panama Papers”, leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca resulted in earth-shaking consequences like police raids and new laws in dozens of countries and the fall of prime ministers in Iceland and Pakistan. It’s not unrealistic to assume similar reforms and fallout will result from this latest leak. Keep your eyes on Latin America, Kenya, UK (Boris Johnson), Azerbaijan, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, and Cyprus. Additionally,

. . .Vladimir Putin, whom the US suspects of having a secret fortune, does not appear in the files by name. But numerous close associates do, including his best friend from childhood – the late Petr Kolbin – whom critics have called a “wallet” for Putin’s own wealth, and a woman the Russian leader was allegedly once romantically involved with.

On the heels of the Panama Papers came the Paradise Papers which sparked investigations into tax evasion and other criminal activity of the global elite.

Not everyone named in the leaks is guilty of crimes or suspicious dealings. However, for those with high profiles from the past and in the present, knowledge of the wealth they’re “stashing” offshore in tax shelters may cause people’s eyebrows to raise and journalists’ questions to be uncomfortable.

In all, the new leak of documents reveals the real owners of more than 29,000 offshore companies. The owners come from more than 200 countries and territories, with the largest contingents from Russia, the U.K., Argentina and China.

Obviously, what the recent history of hacks and leaks has proven is that it’s getting harder for ill gotten gains to be hidden from the public eye. Some people may look askance at this new world order, but when it comes to world and American politics and politicians, a little sunshine shouldn’t hurt when there’s nothing untoward going on in the picturesque islands and smaller countries of the Caribbean, or the Persian Gulf, or the South China Sea. Make no mistake, legal or illegal, offshore tax havens of the rich hurt the “little people” and explain, in part, why it so easy for the wealth gap to expand.

At least $11.3tn in wealth is held offshore, according to a 2020 study by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). “This is money that is being lost to treasuries around the world and money that could be used to recover from Covid,” Ryle said. “We’re losing out because some people are gaining. It’s as simple as that. It’s a very simple transaction that’s going on here.” — The Guardian

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Thursday September 30, 2021 · 5:32 PM PDT

2021/09/30 · 17:32

Anonymous Hacks and Releases EpikFail Data

Rob Monster (quite the aptronym, no?) had been advertising their escrow services on a web site for domain traders and owners, NamePro, saying that he could help sellers transact "tax-free." On Twitter, the topic has also been raised and expanded to reveal that the

. . ."Dan Ehrlich
@danehrlich11

DATABASES for @Epik all came from IP addresses in New Jersey and Ukraine.

The CEO of the sister company of @Epik, @sibyl_ltd, also runs a Ukranian hosting firm. The firm in Vancouver that @Epik contracts out datacenter support to...

... @VanwaTech / @orcatech_io, is sister companies with @SharkTech, which has been previously linked with Chinese APTs. What should happen is @epik be investigated by the @IRS for all the invoices and domain sales not reported, & the @FBI for foreign hacking.

The Trump Intersection

From another researcher into the contextual implications of the data, Brian Krebs, author of Spam Nation, and an independent journalist who specializes in covering cyber crime and security and privacy issues, comes this Twitter thread.

briankrebs
@briankrebs
·
Sep 23
1/4: In 2016, media outlets reported on data showing unexplained & frequent connections between Russia's Alfa Bank & a Trump Org. email server. Thanks to ongoing lawsuits from Alfa Bank, a report on the data commissioned by the Senate in 2018 is now public
Indictment, Lawsuits Revive Trump-Alfa Bank Story
In October 2016, media outlets reported that data collected by some of the world's most renowned cybersecurity experts had identified frequent and unexplained communications between an email server...

2/4: Last week, the special counsel tapped to investigate the origins of the Russia inquiry indicted the former cybercrime prosecutor who brought the data to the attention of the FBI in 2016. Social media has been dissecting the placeholder names in the indictment to ID sources.

3/4: Alfa Bank has subpoenaed 49 people/entities in a John Doe suit that claims the data was result of a sophisticated cyberattack. The newly released report on the data came in a lawsuit filed by 1 of the deposed, who says Alfa Bank plans to violate a confidentiality agreement.

4/4: This story looks at the technical claims made on both sides. It also concludes that the way this entire inquiry has been handled may well negatively affect the US govt's ability to collect crucial and sensitive investigative tips in re cybercrime activity for years to come.

To which thread Dan Ehrlich of NamePros provides a long thread of his own showing the analysis of the "Wonder of the Internetted Internet" that begins here. . .

Dan Ehrlich
@danehrlich11

33/ - The far right hosts hundreds of websites on @inmotionhosting
out of Los Angeles (which strangely has their office inside the business school of @pepperdine

Image

As the thread unfurls, Ehrlich traces the chain of interconnectivity. . .

34/ - In Los Angeles, if you draw a line starting at Pershing Square / Chinatown, down Wilshire Blvd, all the way to the ocean at Santa Monica and Playa Vista and @ICANN headquarters, you will find about 15 small data centers being used as a platform to attack and subvert the USA

35/ - Those data centers all connect to one another through the 1 Wilshire Building, one of the most important "carrier hotels" for the entire internet http://one-wilshire.com. @GorillaServers
@dedipath
@QuadraNet
@MegaPath
@PsychzNetworks
@SharkTech

Ehrlich drops his bombshell:

36/ - What we are looking at is an "internet within an internet" that has provided the platform (the computer servers and hosting networks) for Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies, as well as transnational organized crime, to "wage war by deception" against us all.

Then he drops his consequent bombshell: ". . .the registered agent for a group of @robmonster (the EPIK domain regirstrant CEO) is in Wyoming" and a whole lot of other rightist sites that are laundering money through "merch" shops via a mini-hotel site (a 'motel'?) called Enzo.com. We learn that it's. . .

Not a surprise that one of @enzuinc's directors runs/owns

Image

I am not supplying hotlinks to any of these sedition supporters and racist web sites who are raising money through Enzo. However, one of them is an outfit called the "1776 Shop," which appeared in the EpikFail data breach. The conclusion is that Wyoming is the center of right wing cyber money laundering in the USA as well as being the heart of the Panama Papers empire. Donald Trump has been identified in the Panama Papers hack. Offshore Trove Exposes Trump-Russia links and Piggy Banks of the Wealthiest 1 Percent. And this expose by the WaPo: How the Chinese Internet ended up in Cheyenne, Wyoming

All those Alfa Bank pings to Trump's Trump Tower server probably have been traced as taking this Russian/Chinese cyber highway. Trump ran his money laundering operation from NYC via Cheyenne, via Panama, to (probably) the Ukraine, hence to Putin's (or his agents') server(s) in the Kremlin.

I refuse to condemn the hackers who exposed part of the picture of Trump's crime family laundromat and I refuse to condemn the hackers who have continued exposing the criminal laundromats run by people like Rob Monster. Republican Trumpists were outraged that the FBI obtained FISA warrants to "search" that activity and because of the evidence they gathered, were able to expose the illegal campaign interference (i.e. foreign donations) from Russians. Two of whom are convicted and serving sentences. Now the FBI can follow-up on the traitorous "patriots" of the right. Plus the IRS can, too, because there is doubtless a corresponding tax evasion case involving them and Trump being run using this highway with stops at the various net hotels that we traced leading from WY to Russia.

With all that in mind, is it any mystery why PayPal severed all relations with Monster's Epik domain business? They obviously determined that money laundering and tax evasion transactions that they previously and unknowingly left themselves open to when they had processed payments of these players, left them open to federal charges of accessory to both crimes. Legitimate business can't run away from such associations fast enough.

As for me, I invite Anonymous and other like-motivated hackers to get to work and root out this kind of online criminal syndicate you've just been reading about. They're needed to root out the threats to democracy that run their enterprises secretly and deceptively while selling snake oil to the Trumpty-Dumbpty faithful who probably could care less that the money they spend of all the sites and on owning such sites is devoted to the same single goal: Overthrowing the democratic government of the United States.

UPDATE

www.nytimes.com/...Trump Server Mystery Produces Fresh Conflict

<blockquote>Emails obtained by The New York Times and interviews with people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss issues being investigated by federal authorities, provide a fuller and more complex account of how a group of cyberexperts discovered the odd internet data and developed their hypothesis about what could explain it.

(SNIP)

The Alfa Bank results “have been validated and are reproducible. The findings of the researchers were true then and remain true today; reports that these findings were innocuous or a hoax are simply wrong,” said Jody Westby and Mark Rasch, lawyers for David Dagon, a Georgia Institute of Technology data scientist and one of the researchers whom the indictment discussed but did not name.</blockquote>

Draft Test

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Tuesday June 09, 2020 · 1:25 PM PDT

2020/06/09 · 13:25

Draft text.

Covid-19 State-by-State 4/29/20 Georgia: DPH Reporting Protocol Abruptly Changes but Data Good News!

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Wednesday April 29, 2020 · 11:56 AM PDT

2020/04/29 · 11:56

State DPH Throws Curve with Changed Reporting Methods

It has been impossible to accurately report on the Georgia health statistics for Covid-19 impact for days. Consequently, I stopped issuing diaries to this series. About a month ago, I sent two emails to DPH administrators asking for certain reporting changes be made to put meaningful context and important demographic data into the public record issued twice daily by them. Within two weeks, I was happy to see percentages rather than only raw numbers charted, and ethnic breakdown of cases in a state that has a significant minority of AfAms and Hispanics, both of which I had requested. Progress!

But now this:

Death counts and other essential figures DPH publishes on COVID-19 have ticked up and down as the state changes the way that it reports them. While the state has added to the metrics it publishes, it has stopped running others and shifted its method of counting cases. This has confused ordinary Georgians as they decide whether Gov. Brian Kemp was right to begin reopening the state’s restaurants, movie theaters and hair salons.

In the past week alone, DPH rolled out a new data dashboard that added bar and pie charts. But they deleted a daily count of completed tests, making it difficult for the public to determine if Georgia is meeting a key White House criteria for reopening.

The kind of changes highlighted in that last paragraph do not add to our understanding of the virus; nor does it aid in adding information needed to fight future pandemics; nor does it reduce the noise vs. the message ratio on which public behavior depends; finally, nor does it contribute to the wisdom that should guide political decisions to remain shut down or to begin opening up. What does it mean for reliability and credibility of tracking maps that show the pandemic progress in terms of new cases, hospitalizations, and hot spots where death rates are alarming?

After all, Gov. Kemp, like Pres. Trump, claims such decisions will be based solely on facts and science. The truth is, the overriding effect of the alterations in reporting Georgia health statistic has produced increased confusion. Increased confusion causes increased fear in populations living under the administration of governments that make unannounced and un- or ill-explained changes to the methodologies they use to create public information meant to inform, calm, and guide it. Honesty requires that we remember that a dominant and highly dangerous characteristic of many state and certainly our national response to SARS CoV-2 pandemic has been — and remains today — misinformation.

Please allow me to remind readers that the sole purpose of the Covid-State-by-State Group is to aggregate and amass factual, statistical, and official information on the individual states’ responses to the pandemic in one place to create a living history whose purpose is to provide a library for researchers to use, particularly for current and future diarists writing about the Great Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. How can our ambition be realized when. . .?

Much of it (the changes) is now published in a format that makes it difficult for researchers to use.

For more exploration on the implications and consequences of Georgia’s “amendments” to its reporting protocols:

‘Confused and scared’: Georgians frustrated over shifting virus data

Amid conflicts over outbreak’s path, Kemp weighs Georgia’s next steps

However! The remainder of the diary presents and explains and attempts to correctly interpret the Georgia DPH new methodology. And there is factual reason on which to base optimism in the face of the pandemic. Read on!

*****************************************************************

Georgia DAILY Overall COVID-19 Status

Total Tests 140,223
Total Confirmed Cases 25,274
ICU Admits 1,122 (this number is confusing, but I believe it represents total number of patients currently in ICU)
Hospital Admits 4,948 (probably current total number as of today)
Total Deaths 1,052
Case Rate/100,000 No longer possible to report for State, only County by County General Summary: Top 5 counties in number of new cases reported show marked decline to statistically near zero in the last 5 days. Peak new cases throughout the State occurred 16 April with 801. There has been a steep decline in number beginning 21 April (685 cases) to today, 29 April (12). The 7-day moving average has fallen from 700 to 222 since April 20.
Case & Death Curves The cases curve has flattened beginning this week; the total deaths curve ascent is overall flattening. That means that while the total deaths continue to mount up, the rate of death is slowing (fewer/day). A sharp drop in daily deaths has been ongoing since April 16th when 21 deaths were reported to today, when 2 deaths have been reported by noon April 29th.
Racial Breakdown AfAms comprise about 36% of all cases, divided nearly equally by sex, more among females. Whites comprise about 30% of all cases, again split nearly evenly, but slightly more males. Note: Missing and unknown ethnic information is absent for about 30% of cases.
Healthcare Workers Comparing the impact on healthcare workers to the general population is not possible in terms of accuracy from the way data is reported by DPH. However, it can be seen that the impact on those in daily contact with infected people is visibly greater than incidence of cases in the public in general. Data significantly shows the impact on females, who dominate healthcare workers and AfAms, who more frequently work in support staff positions, particularly in more populous lower-wage positions like housekeeping, reception, and clerical. Housekeeping assumes particular dangers from exposure to virus. Of the 2.4K healthcare workers documented, more than 81% are female. Of the 2.4K workers, approximately 41% are AfAms, and nearly half of them are female. Deaths have not been reported at all.

*************************************************************

Discussion

The following are my interpretations and opinions of the implications and consequences that the data lead to.

Both cases and death rates have sharply declined in the last five days or so. Therefore, the governor’s decision to reopen GA is understandable.
The data suggest that symptomatic Covid-19 has indeed declined impressively.
The data do not suggest that asymptomatic Covid-19 has done so. The truth is there is and will remain no data until testing ramps up significantly.
Data trends in GA indicate that the healthcare system has not been overwhelmed. Therefore, optimism about the waning danger from pandemic is understandable.
Data trends make no future predictions about a second wave of infection from SARS-CoV-2.
Thus, one must conclude from the facts that hand washing, wearing masks, physical distancing, and stringent disinfection of public areas must continue until a) data from ramped up testing demonstrates the virus is no longer present; b) research and data show that recovery from Covid-19 confers immunity; c) therapeutic interference controls symptoms of severe infections; and d) vaccines prove effective and the population becomes widely immunized.

Covid19 State-by-State 4/17/2020 Georgia: Good News, or Garbage In, Garbage Out?

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Saturday April 18, 2020 · 2:35 PM PDT

2020/04/18 · 14:35

Peak Coronavirus Deaths?

One model indicates an optimistic picture for Georgia — possibly the peak in deaths is behind us. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in its update today indicated the peak death rate in the state occurred 11 days ago when 100 people died on one day. The noon death count tallied for today stands at 5. Additionally, the projected total deaths has fallen from 2600 to 1400. Last projected peak deaths reported in this series was to occur near the end of April, or May 1st.

The IHME model has been cited by White House officials and public health experts in Georgia. It has informed state and local leaders’ decisions on business closures and social distancing rules.

(SNIP)

The Seattle-based institute estimated that relaxing social distancing may be possible after June 15, when daily deaths are down to zero.

(SNIP)

The models changed because the IHME took new factors into account, including the impact of new social distancing mandates. . .

However, the IHME model is not without its critics.

. . .epidemiologists are criticizing it as flawed and misleading for both the public and policy makers. In particular, they warn against relying on it as the basis for government decision-making, including on “re-opening America.”

“It’s not a model that most of us in the infectious disease epidemiology field think is well suited” to projecting Covid-19 deaths, epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (said).

(SNIP)

The chief reason the IHME projections worry some experts, Etzioni said, is that “the fact that they overshot” — initially projecting up to 240,000 U.S. deaths, compared with fewer than 70,000 now — “will be used to suggest that the government response prevented an even greater catastrophe, when in fact the predictions were shaky in the first place.”

That could produce misplaced confidence in the effectiveness of the social distancing policies, which in turn could produce complacency about what might be needed to keep the epidemic from blowing up again.

Reliable predictability relies, of course, on sufficient and accurate data, which is true of any model. In the very early stages of pandemic data is limited and reporting protocols may not be standardized. As time passes, both factors tighten up and with more “past” on which to predict the future, models can be expected to increase in accuracy. Still, as we see, interjections of hidden deaths, such as those being uncovered in assisted living facilities upset projections. Additionally, political factors contribute to the suppression of counts, as when only positive corovavirus tests inform the confirmed death count and exclude diagnosed but untested cases, which can result when people die at home and more than 72 hours of proper post-mortem storage of corpses prevents testing.

Georgia has suffered under-reporting and undiscovered deaths; it has not recorded any probable Covid-19 deaths that have not reported positive coronavirus tests; its reporting overall suffers from a lag in data reaching the state Department of Public Health.

And the IHME protocol is not a tried and true methodology. To oversimplify, it overlays US data on graphs created from data gathered from Wuhan and European cities. At first, the US data wildly diverged. Then as lockdown and isolation took hold, the curves became more closely reflective. Ultimately, the data is entirely statistical and has no epidemiological basis. Critics complain that this causes projections to vary and swing a lot — not desirable in a tool supposed to be predictive.

Yet today’s update pretty well reflects the reality and also other models, as in the MIT SEIR model and another U. Washington one. However, the MIT model was predictive three weeks ago and the second U. Washington model was two weeks ago of what we see today.

Detailed charts from the IHME for Georgia can be viewed here.

*************************************************************

Georgia Department of Public Health Statistics

^{Updates Now Issued at Noon and 7:00 PM}

3/3/2020 First day of reporting 3 cases, 0 deaths

3/12/2020 First death reported 1 death

Today’s Noon Report

COVID-19 Confirmed Cases:	No. Cases (%)
Total	17669 (100%)
Hospitalized	3420 (19.36%)
Deaths	673 (3.81%)*

* The death rate increased .06% since yesterday, while hospitalizations have decreased 0.52%. This continues a second week of increased death rate and accompanying decreased hospitalizations.

Today’s Coronavirus Testing Data

COVID-19 Testing By Lab Type:	No. Pos. Tests	Total Tests
Commercial Lab	16,720	69,355
GPH Lab	949	4,853

Overall # of tests performed in GA: 74,208, increase of 6269 in one day

Overall percentage positive tests: 17,669, increase of 2000 positives in one day

COVID-19 Cases in Georgia by Race and Ethnicity*

Race	Ethnicity	Cases	Deaths
Black Or African American	Hispanic/Latino	121	2
Black Or African American	Non-Hispanic/Latino	3841	335
Black Or African American	Unknown	806	14
White	Hispanic/Latino	339	14
White	Non-Hispanic/Latino	2711	236
White	Unknown	476	9
American Indian/Native American	Hispanic/Latino	1	0
American Indian/Native American	Non-Hispanic/Latino	15	1
American Indian/Native American	Unknown	1	0
Asian	Hispanic/Latino	0	0
Asian	Non-Hispanic/Latino	138	8
Asian	Unknown	33	1
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Hispanic/Latino	4	0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic/Latino	7	1
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Unknown	2	0
Other	Hispanic/Latino	214	7
Other	Non-Hispanic/Latino	57	1
Other	Unknown	51	2
Unknown	Hispanic/Latino	166	0
Unknown	Non-Hispanic/Latino	341	7
Unknown	Unknown	8345	35

******************************************************************

Discussion

No change in demographics by Age or Sex since yesterday. The oldest death in female aged 100, youngest in female aged 22. Male deaths far outstrip female deaths.

General: Of all the deaths only 10 had no underlying (comorbidities) health conditions. Five counties now reporting more than 1,000 deaths each, one of which reports over 2,000.

These maps are two means of portraying the burden of COVID-19 in Georgia. The cumulative case rate maps show which areas of Georgia have been the hardest hit by COVID-19 based on the total number of cases. The active case rate maps depict which areas of Georgia are currently facing the greatest burden of COVID-19 based on recently diagnosed cases and individuals who may still be infectious. (CLICK to view larger image)

Covid19 State-by-State 4/16/20 Georgia: Governor Admits Cases & Deaths Data Flawed

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Thursday April 16, 2020 · 11:04 AM PDT

2020/04/16 · 11:04

What We Know

Testing and data gathering are both inadequate and inaccurate. To this day, many hospitals groups refuse to provide statistics regarding either patients or employed medical staff who have fallen ill or died — even when testing has slowly become increasingly available. Epidemiologists are dismayed by the inadequacy of reported information that hampers understanding of disease spread, its lethality in different ethnicities, and the deviation Covid-19 has produced in the state’s health statistics. Only after prodding has the DPH begun issuing useful, but still limited, statistical information on rates and per capita coronavirus impact.

How will we be able to respond to future pandemics without guidance from data that provides the information necessary to politicians, public health officers, and all kinds of officials to devise and revise responses that are swifter and more effective in the future? more immediately, how can anyone make decisions on what comes next in the aftermath of the pandemic peak without mathematical and scientific facts to inform them?

Politicians claim to be making life and death decisions about “opening up again” on the basis of science, but “garbage in/garbage out” bears a closer resemblance to the actuality of sources behind announced intentions.

In an average month, according to federal data, 335 Georgians die in accidents, 135 in shootings and 128 in drug overdoses. Already, the coronavirus is outpacing every other cause of death except for heart disease and cancer.

Since the outbreak began, Kemp has repeatedly said that data, science and the advice of health officials drive his decision making, including his delays in imposing statewide social-distancing measures to contain the virus’ spread. He was among the last of the nation’s governors to issue a shelter-at-home order and restrict business activity.

“That data is important to us,” Kemp said. “It’s also concerning, and we continue to work on that. ”In some instances, flawed data has caused a drastic understatement of the virus’ severity.” — www.ajc.com/...

Inadequate testing, faulty reporting, and withholding of statistical data on cases and deaths by medical service businesses, including hospitals and nursing homes have produced the flaws and the understatement.
For example,

. . .a report on long-term care facilities that was riddled with errors and omissions. The report documented outbreaks in 138 facilities, up from 80 last week. But it made no mention of (one specific assisted living facility), even though two-thirds of residents and staff there have tested positive for the virus.

The report said at least 89 residents of long-term care facilities have died of COVID-19. But some of the facilities themselves have recorded significantly more deaths than the report captured.

It’s important to remember that in the absence of testing, no one knows the number of asymptomatic positives among people who unknowingly may be spreading infection.

Georgia only began reporting testing numbers on March 18th, less than a month ago.

Gov. Kemp has issued no executive orders requiring all medical facilities from emergency to rehab facilities to report confirmed and suspected coronavirus incidents. Suspected, cases only get reported if late reporting of positive tests or post-mortem tests reach the Georgia Department of Public Health. As it is all DPH reporting is behind the day’s reality on which it is reported.

In short, NO concerted effort is being made at all to eliminate the “garbage in.” Quite the contrary. The national cue from the White House seems to be “Embrace the garbage, then open your arms to the virus,” as pressure from the White House mounts with each passing day bringing the country closer to a presidential election that looks like the terminus for Donald Trump’s days as The Decider.

Accuracy, authenticity, and veracity are required for any government at any level to take the measure of a pandemic’s impact on a community in terms of lives, services, inventories, and costs to name a few factors that will determine the success or failure of any confrontation between human and novel virus in years to come.

**************************************************************************************

Coronavirus Deaths by Age Group

The median age of Georgians who have died from the coronavirus is 74.

Number of Deaths by Age Group

Age 0-19: 0 deaths

Age 20-29: 4 deaths

Age 30-39: 12 deaths

Age 40-49: 19 deaths

Age 50-59: 41 deaths

Age 60-69: 122 deaths

Age 70-79: 125 deaths

Age 80-89: 128 deaths

Age 90 and older: 46 deaths

Ages for four of the deceased were not available.

*******************************************************************************

Georgia Department of Public Health Statistics

^{Updates Now Issued at Noon and 7:00 PM}

3/3/2020 First day of reporting 3 cases, 0 deaths

3/12/2020 First death reported 1 death

4/10/2020 Noon Report 11,483 cases 2,351 hospitalized 416 deaths

Today’s Noon Report

COVID-19 Confirmed Cases:	No. Cases (%)
Total	15,669 (100%)*
Hospitalized	3,108 (19.84%)**
Deaths	587 (3.75%)*******

* increase of 4186 cases in one week

** decrease in hospitalizations of 0.63% compared to one week ago

*** increase in deaths of 0.13% over one week ago

Today’s Coronavirus Testing Data

COVID-19 Testing By Lab Type:	No. Pos. Tests	Total Tests
Commercial Lab	14836	63581
GPH Lab	833	4358

Overall # of tests performed in GA: 67,939 an increase 17,434 tests in one week

Overall percentage positive tests: 23.06%, a decrease of 1.82% in one week

COVID-19 Cases in Georgia by Race and Ethnicity*

Race	Ethnicity	Cases	Deaths
Black Or African American	Hispanic/Latino	120	2
Black Or African American	Non-Hispanic/Latino	3197	290
Black Or African American	Unknown	672	14
White	Hispanic/Latino	234	10
White	Non-Hispanic/Latino	2192	203
White	Unknown	373	8
American Indian/Native American	Hispanic/Latino	0	0
American Indian/Native American	Non-Hispanic/Latino	13	1
American Indian/Native American	Unknown	1	0
Asian	Hispanic/Latino	0	0
Asian	Non-Hispanic/Latino	110	8
Asian	Unknown	27	0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Hispanic/Latino	2	0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic/Latino	6	0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Unknown	2	0
Other	Hispanic/Latino	89	6
Other	Non-Hispanic/Latino	19	1
Other	Unknown	23	0
Unknown	Hispanic/Latino	165	1
Unknown	Non-Hispanic/Latino	381	13
Unknown	Unknown	8043	30

* Source of data unknown; assume most from hospital admission forms where indication of race/ethnicity is voluntary.

*****************************************************************

Discussion

AGE: Leading infected age group demographic remains 18-59 years-old, which stands unchanged at 61%, ending an upward trend; Younger and older age groups also unchanged.

SEX: Females to Males ratio of 54%/44% remains unchanged for one week, ending an upward trend for females.

GENERAL: Overwhelming preponderance of deaths include patients with underlying conditions, regardless of age. Oldest, female 100 years old, youngest, female 27.

******************************************************************

News You Can Use

Georgia to expand COVID-19 testing, key to reaching ‘new norm’

For the first time in Georgia, tests will be offered to anyone displaying symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, state officials said Wednesday.

But the state’s public health department has only 5,000 test kits on hand, a tiny fraction of the number that experts say are needed to track and contain the virus.

Desperate for supplies, some hospitals turn to ‘gray market’

Agencies (in GA and elsewhere) and health care providers have been forced to go outside normal procurement channels as they compete with one another for supplies and with the federal government, which has used the Defense Production Act to direct private companies to prioritize its orders. As they turn to nontraditional sources, government authorities are falling victim to schemes. . .

Georgia jobless rate posted record jump between February and March

Georgia school districts ending early due to coronavirus

COVID-19 claims former federal judge from Cobb County More

*************************************************************************************

References

Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated April 16)

Who to call, where to go with COVID-19 questions in Georgia

Coronavirus in Georgia: COVID-19 Dashboard

Covid19 State-by-State 4/10/20 Georgia: Prepares for Worst, Deploys Mobile Morgues, Processes Dead

Limelite

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday April 10, 2020 · 1:21 PM PDT

2020/04/10 · 13:21

Bringing out the dead

Hardest hit by the pandemic, the little town of Albany in Dougherty County. Sadly, officials say its peak has not been reached yet. It has received two refrigerated trailers out of the eight distributed around the state. One trailer with a capacity for 24 bodies is at the hospital; the second, capacity 48, is at the county coroner’s office. The county leads all others with 67 dead (population <90,000); Fulton (the most populous county) reports 48 by comparison. While only a month ago, Georgia confirmed 22 Covid-19 deaths, today’s number is 412. At this point in the curve, the state is preparing for death rates to rise and, it anticipates, overwhelm the capabilities of hospitals to store corpses.

In spite of a slight decline in the death rate, the Georgia Public Health Dept. lags behind in reporting current deaths since coroners and hospitals aren’t always able to provide real time information. Hence the public health data does not reflect the current reality, which is worse than publicized.

As models show wide differentiation in their projections, and Gov. Kemp hs not made any statements about sources of guidance other than to say he has relied of various models in his decision making, the presence of refrigerated trailers points to anticipating a worst case scenario that puts deaths in the thousands by the end of June.

Two hospitals receiving mobile units are in Atlanta (2), at Athens (1), Augusta University Medical Center (1), Douglas County (1), and a trailer has been stationed with the state medical examiner’s office in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation located in Decatur.

Bodies must be stored until results from coronavirus tests are known. Patients die before their test results can be reported, and in cases where tests were never taken, the response time is even longer as nasal swabs from corpses are sampled within 72 hours after death.

Georgia’s existing ICUs are at their limits. But one bright light shines in these circumstances. Piedmont Healthcare systems announced its newly constructed 16-story Atlanta tower will open four months earlier than scheduled. As it stands 150 confirmed Covid-19 cases are being treated on campus. The new Covid-19 ready facilities will occupy three floors with admissions to begin Monday, April 13..

The early opening will add three ICU and acute nursing units to Atlanta’s capacity. This will add a total of 132 additional beds, with 64 designated as critically-needed ICU beds.

The. . .tower was originally set to open Aug. 1. AJC

But the most fearsome part of this insidious disease that is crippling the world is that no one knows when it will end.

**********************************************************************

Georgia Department of Public Health Statistics

^{Updates Now Issued at Noon and 7:00 PM}

3/3/2020 First day of reporting 3 cases, 0 deaths

3/12/2020 First death reported 1 death

4/8/2020 Noon report 9901 cases, 1993 hospitalized. 362 deaths

COVID-19 Confirmed Cases:	No. Cases (%)
Total	11483 (100%)
Hospitalized	2351 (20.47%)*
Deaths	416 (3.62%)**

* a rise in hospitalizations by 0.34%

* * a drop in death ratio of 0.04%

Today’s Coronavirus Testing Data

COVID-19 Testing By Lab Type:	No. Pos. Tests	Total Tests
Commercial Lab	10944	43156
GPH Lab	539	2991

Overall # of tests performed in GA: 46,147 +7360 since 4/6/20

Overall percentage positive tests: 24.88% -0.6% since 4/6/20

Following Statistics Are Reported for the First Time

by GPH

COVID-19 Cases in Georgia by Race and Ethnicity* ++

Race	Ethnicity	Cases
Black Or African American	Hispanic/Latino	15
Black Or African American	Non-Hispanic/Latino	1939
Black Or African American	Unknown	460
White	Hispanic/Latino	118
White	Non-Hispanic/Latino	1440
White	Unknown	248
American Indian/Native American	Hispanic/Latino	1
American Indian/Native American	Non-Hispanic/Latino	8
American Indian/Native American	Unknown	1
Asian	Hispanic/Latino	0
Asian	Non-Hispanic/Latino	61
Asian	Unknown	16
Multiracial	Hispanic/Latino	23
Multiracial	Non-Hispanic/Latino	2
Multiracial	Unknown	2
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Hispanic/Latino	1
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Non-Hispanic/Latino	4
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	Unknown	2
Other	Hispanic/Latino	104
Other	Non-Hispanic/Latino	41
Other	Unknown	25
Unknown	Hispanic/Latino	65
Unknown	Non-Hispanic/Latino	288
Unknown	Unknown	6619

* Source of data unknown; assume most from hospital admission forms where indication of race/ethnicity is voluntary.

++ See news link below.

*****************************************************************************

Discussion

AGE: Leading infected age group demographic remains 18-59 years-old, which stands at 61%; another increase of 1% over last report, continuing the weekly upward trend. Younger and older age groups unchanged from 4/8/20.

SEX: Females 54%, males, 44%, unknown 2%; another increase of 1% in females over last report, continuing the weekly upward trend. Could be attributed to greater numbers of females getting tested.

GENERAL: Preponderance of deaths include patients with underlying conditions.

Probable most dominant comorbidity is obesity or overweight

because it predominantly underlies the three sub-contributors of 1) heart

disease, 2) diabetes, and 3) hypertension.

Oldest death 100 year-old female, youngest death 27 year-old female.

*******************************************************************************

News You Can Use

Kemp: ‘I am pleading with you to not attend’ in-person Easter services

Rapid virus tests come to Atlanta as testing slowly ramps up

Outbreak apparently taking heavier toll on blacks

ICE detainees in Georgia test positive for novel coronavirus

Coronavirus cases now reported at 58 Georgia senior care facilities

As dozens die in senior care homes, Kemp extends statewide lockdown

Atlanta mayor spends $1.5 million to isolate virus-infected homeless

Local donors raise more than $800,000 to feed COVID-19 frontline workers

Long opposed to drastic coronavirus measures, Kemp now embraces some

Gun owner sues Georgia over pause in issuing carry licenses amid virus

Atlanta couple says hospital violated coronavirus visitor rules

**************************************************************************

Resources

Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated April 10)

Coronavirus in Georgia: COVID-19 Dashboard

Covid-19 State-by-State 4/8/2020 Georgia: "It’s the public’s health, stupid!”

Limelite for Covid19 State by State

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 08, 2020 · 3:49 PM PDT

2020/04/08 · 15:49

Face masks? No problem! We’ve got millions in the Federal Stockpile. Just cross Jared’s palm with silver and thousands can be yours. Virus tests? No problem. We’ve got your quick and dirty false negative ones; your 15 minute and you’ve got results ones, sorry, reagents not included, but talk to Jared, he can do something for you. Respirators all in use? GM got the contract and will soon start production. The ones in the Federal Stockpile can be checked out for a fee as long as they’re not designated for sale to overseas. customers.

The entire country competes on the open market against each of its parts. That is Trump’s kind of capitalism at work and the way its working when it comes to PPE, respirators, and virus tests purchases, it’s endangering people’s lives. Most of the lives facing the biggest deprivation of supplies needed to mount an effective response to the pandemic are our medical and peramedical personnel who are the first to come in contact with the sick under the most infective conditions. A pretty homemade mask with a tiny pocket for a disposable microfilter just isn’t enough preventative armor in a pandemic when you’re on the front lines.

In Georgia, EMS personnel are in dire straits. “Concerns grow that EMS will be overwhelmed as more medics are exposed.”

In the age of coronavirus, after any 911 call, David Fisher is among many Georgia medics who are on the brink of being sidelined — or worse.

He is wearing a respirator mask that expired three days ago. If it breaks or tears in an encounter with a patient, he will be ordered into isolation for 14 days. While he is quarantined, he isn’t on the priority list for testing. Most likely, even medics who show symptoms may only be checked by a doctor before being ordered back on a truck.

But, while this is today’s big story in Georgia, it really should be a national headline.

thousands of EMS workers across the U.S. have been taken off rescue vehicles and ambulances and ordered into quarantine

(snip)

As of early Wednesday, at least 569 first responders had been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to a real-time database established by the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

. . .in just one day in New York City as many as 150 paramedics were ordered into isolation

NYC’s shortage of EMS responders impacted GA. as crews were ordered to leave the state and go to New York to assist several days ago. This when the Department of Health is not gathering(?) and certainly not making public any information on the impact of Covid-19 on the state’s emergency response staff, and thus on the public health.

In Georgia, among EMS providers that have not provided information are Atlanta Fire Rescue and EMS and Grady* Emergency Medical Services. The few Georgia entities that have say at least two dozen state EMS workers have been quarantined just since Tuesday. In the past few weeks, some ambulance providers say that dozens of medics have been quarantined but only a handful have tested positive for the disease. . .

*_{Grady Hospital is Atlanta’s #1 and biggest emergency response hospital, admittedly focused on traumatic injuries in “normal times.”}

. . .because only a handful are being tested. Political pressure from Republican Gov. Kemp’s and Trump’s corrupt disregard for public health when capitalism is paramount in their worldview has added EMS employees fearing the loss of their jobs on the back of their fear of infection for doing the very job that those policies make increasingly dangerous, beyond its already high risk factors.

The current treatment of EMS personnel magnifies the danger to public health.

Despite medics’ high risk of exposure, they are not a priority when it comes to getting the resources they need.

Emotions are running so high that some are calling for first responders to refuse to go into hazardous situations without proper protective attire. And that doesn’t just mean 911 calls for patients who may be exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19. They say that goes for all patients.

It’s not just the president who will be accused of having blood on his hands for ignoring the warning from his intelligence staff that the pandemic would impact the US for 70 days. Blood will be on the hands of Republicans in Congress who display reluctance to fund financial support for testing, and necessary medical supplies against the virus, in favor of saving Big Business. It will be on the hands of state governors and legislators who have cut and have perpetually underfunded public health in the name of “freedom from government interference with private pocketbooks” so that they can slash taxes needed to support public health.

It remains to be seen if America on every level of government, down to city councils, can learn the lessons this pandemic is teaching us. Planning, preparing, and funding for the services, safety, and supplies public healthcare demands takes government and leaders unafraid to face the responsibility that beyond making private healthcare affordable for all, assuring public healthcare is the major underpinning of having a great country.

*******************************************************************

NOTICE: The State of GA is no longer issuing a statement attributing the rise of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths to a backlog of information flooding the statistics, or being unavailable at this time.

Georgia Department of Public Health Statistics

^{Updates Now Issued at Noon and 7:00 PM}

3/3/2020 First day of reporting 3 cases, 0 deaths

3/12/2020 First death reported 1 death

4/6/2020 Noon report 7314 cases, 1332 hospitalized, 229 deaths

4/8/2020 Today’s Noon Report

COVID-19 Confirmed Cases:	No. Cases (%)
Total	9901 (100%)*
Hospitalized	1993 (20.13%)**
Deaths	362 (3.66%)*******

* an increase of 2,587 cases and an increase of 26% over the last report 2 days ago

** an increase of 661 cases and an increase of 50% over the last report 2 days ago

***an increase of 133 cases and an increase of 63% over the last report 2 days ago

Today’s Coronavirus Testing Data

COVID-19 Testing By Lab Type:	No. Pos. Tests	Total Tests
Commercial Labs	9394	35980
GPH Lab	507	2807

Overall # of tests performed in GA: 38,787

Overall percentage positive tests: 25.5%

Following Statistics Are Reported for the First Time

by GPH

Covid-19 Confirmed by Race

Af Am: 19.97%

White: 14.74%

Other: 1.55%

UNK: 63.75%*

*_{GPH only began recording this statistic, unk probably reflects the lack of any data being kept prior to today’s.}

************************************************************************

Discussion

Leading infected age group demographic remains 18-59 years-old, which stands at 60%; 60+, 35%; <18, 1%. No change over previous report.

53% cases are female; 44% male; 3% unk Male cases show 2% drop over last report; unk increase of 3%

Male deaths exceed female deaths by a large margin. (It is getting too difficult to tote up due to the way the web pg displays the data.)

Fulton County (Atlanta Metro) breaks 1000 cases at 1,240; Dougherty County leads all other counties with 61 deaths (_{this is the small heavily Af Am county SW GA where two funeral services spawned first cases)}

Af Am deaths exceed deaths among whites by 5%; statistics are not specified for Hispanic or Asian demographic groups.

An overwhelming number of deaths are among people with underlying medical conditions that are not individually specified.

*************************************************************************

News You Can Use

Kemp extends shelter in place order in Georgia through April

‘I don’t want Georgians to take their foot off the gas’

and imposed new restrictions on senior care facilities Wednesday as he faced criticism from local officials who urged him to take more drastic steps to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

FDA approves clinical trials for Emory’s COVID-19 antiviral treatment

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an Investigational New Drug application for EIDD-2801, an antiviral compound, which can be taken orally. The drug was developed several years ago to battle a broad spectrum of viruses and has shown strong results in animal testing against influenza.

Rapid virus tests come to Atlanta as testing slowly ramps up

Sen. Loeffler to sell stock holdings after trading scrutiny

(GA Senator,) Kelly Loeffler-(R) says she will stop trading stocks in individual companies

State says gig and contract workers should apply for jobless benefits Monday

Trade through Georgia ports down, quick rebound not seen

Fulton public defenders petition for wider release of jail inmates

A map of coronavirus cases in Georgia (updated April 8)

Limelite for Covid19 State by State

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday April 06, 2020 · 2:18 PM PDT

2020/04/06 · 14:18

Georgia State Parks Flooded with Refusenik Hikers, Many from North Crolina

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) has shown vacillating response to the pandemic. He was slow to call for a stay-at-home order across the state; then he did, but with exceptions; he kept outdoor recreational areas open, then he closed the public parks and beaches, then he opened the beaches for “strictly limited” use.

As a result, in spite of closures of ALL state parks and mounting pressure to re-close beaches, Georgians and out-of-staters discard caution in order to celebrate spring. Natural recreational sites all over the state are seeing an influx of cars, carrying hikers to the closed parks where drivers and passengers disembark to enjoy the outdoors in conditions that make physical separation impossible. A situation better designed to transmit SARS-CoV-2 can hardly be imagined.

At Tallulah Gorge State Park in Rabun County. GA

(1700 carloads of visitors) were lined up cheek by jowl to descend the 750-step staircase that drops to the bridge from the rim. It was on a par with a July 4 weekend. . .

Not all people who have been crowding GA parks and beaches are residents of the state. Spring is impacting peoples desires to enjoy perfect weather all over the Southeast. Stay-at-home orders proving anti-effective, it seems.

After North Carolina’s governor ordered residents there to stay at home last week, plenty of cars with North Carolina tags continued to cross over the border to recreation spots at nearby Clayton, Georgia.

Last week Rabun County resident SarahRuth Owens was headed to a fairly secluded spot near Warwoman Dell, and “there were three cars with North Carolina tags, plain as day,” she said. “They started pulling all their camping gear out, and I thought, what are they doing here? Aren’t they supposed to shelter in place?”

Regular readers of this series covering GA, will remember the Republican GA state senator who on the day his self-isolation ended, packed up a caravan of three vehicles and went to Florida to vacation “and complete his recovery,” in spite of His governor’s order to shelter-in-place.

This phenomenon is not exclusive to GA and NC. Park rangers in the Appalachian Trail area of Tennessee also report phenomenal hiker traffic along “lesser known” trails. The AT itself has been CLOSED by the US Forest Service, including all access trails. Georgia state park personnel attached to Cloudland Canyon report it was “maxed-out.”

How do we know that the anecdotal testimony of park rangers and park visitors who have spoken to reporters are true?

The New York Times analyzed anonymous cellphone data from 15 million users to demonstrate the travel patterns of the country. The map showed that much of the country had heeded advisories to stay close to home, and had stopped traveling more than 2 miles a day — except in the Southeast.

(SNIP)

Steven Bekkerus, public affairs officer for the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. “This level of public use and non-essential travel is outside the current CDC guidelines.”

REMINDER: Outdoor exercise that flouts the CDC Guidelines is NOT healthy; State Parks do not provide immunity from Covid-19 because the breeze is blowing, the sun is shining, and the birds are singing. The word is “beauty,” not “immunity.”

*******************************************************************

Today’s significant increase in cases is in part due to additional laboratories reporting to DPH, and also improvements in electronic reporting from other laboratories. Patient information is often incomplete and DPH works to complete the records, so data will change over time.

Georgia Department of Public Health Statistics

^{Updates Now Issued at Noon and 7:00 PM}

3/3/2020 First day of reporting 3 cases, 0 deaths

3/12/2020 First death reported 1 death

4/3/20 Noon report 5831 cases, 1158 hospitalized, 184 deaths

Today’s Noon Report:

COVID-19 Confirmed Cases:	No. Cases (%)
Total	7314 (100%)*
Hospitalized	1332 (18.21%)
Deaths	229 (3.13%)**

* an increase of 1,483 cases, 20% over previous number of cases reported 3 days before

** an increase of 45 deaths, 18.8% over previous number of deaths reported 3 days before

Today’s Coronavirus Testing Data

COVID-19 Testing By Lab Type:	No. Pos. Tests	Total Tests
Commercial Lab	6866	28777
GPH Lab	448	2497

Overall # of tests performed in GA: 31,274

Overall percentage positive tests: 23.4%

Beginning Today

Senior care facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks

This list of nursing homes and other senior care facilities identified by the Georgia Department of Public Health reflects known outbreaks of COVID-19 as of Wednesday afternoon, April 1, 2020 and was released the following Friday. The DPH will update this list every Friday.

Arbor Terrace At Cascade, Atlanta, Fulton County

Benton House, Woodstock, Cherokee County

Benton House of Grayson, Grayson, Gwinnett County

Berman Commons, Dunwoody, DeKalb County

Budd Terrace, Wesley Woods, Atlanta, DeKalb County

Cambridge Care, Snellville, Gwinnett County

Canterfield of Kennesaw, Kennesaw, Cobb County

Cottage Landing, Carrollton, Carroll County

Dawson Health and Rehab, Dawson, Terrell County

Delmar Gardens of Smyrna, Smyrna, Cobb County [NOTE: A spokesperson for the facility says the state’s listing is in error and an independent living resident tested positive while hospitalized.]

Discovery Village of Sugarloaf, Suwannee, Gwinnett County

Douglasville Nursing and Rehab, Douglasville, Douglas County

Fellowship Home, Valdosta, Brooks County

Gardens of Fayetteville, Fayetteville, Fayettte County

Glancy Rehab-Northside Gwinnett, Duluth, Gwinnett County

Greenwood Place, Marietta, Cobb County

Heartis Fayetteville, Fayetteville, Fayette County

King's Bridge Retirement Center, Atlanta, DeKalb County

LaGrange Nursing & Rehab, LaGrange, Troup County

Legacy Ridge At Neese Road, Woodstock, Cherokee County

Lenbrook, Atlanta, Fulton County

Mann House Assisted Living, Cumming, Forsyth County

ManorCare Rehab Center, Decatur, DeKalb County

Maple Ridge, Cartersville, Bartow County

Marietta Life Center, Marietta, Cobb County

Miller County Nursing Home, Colquitt, Wayne County

Oaks at Towne Lake, Woodstock, Cherokee County

Orchard at Brookhaven, Brookhaven, DeKalb County

Park Springs, Stone Mountain, DeKalb County

Parkside Acute and Rehab, Snellville, Gwinnett County

Pelham Parkway, Pelham, Mitchell County

Pine Knoll, Carrollton, Carroll County

Powder Springs Transitional Care and Rehab, Powder Springs, Cobb County

Pruitt Health Crestwood, Valdosta, Lowndes County

Pruitt Health Eastside, Macon, Bibb County

Pruitt Health Grandview, Athens, Clarke County

Pruitt Health of Brookhaven, Atlanta, DeKalb County

Pruitt Health Palmyra, Albany, Dougherty County

Retreat at Canton, Canton, Cherokee County

Riverdale, Riverdale, Clayton County

Rome Health & Rehab, Rome, Floyd County

Rosemont at Stone Mountain, Stone Mountain, DeKalb County

Sadie Mays Health & Rehab, Atlanta, Fulton County

Sandy Springs Health & Rehab, Sandy Springs, DeKalb County

Signature Healthcare, Marietta, Cobb County

Townsend Park, Cartersville, Bartow County

Zebulon Park Health and Rehab, Macon, Bibb County

The DPH's reporting does not contain information about how many residents at each facility were infected. Some facilities have reported that information publicly.

The first reported case of COVID-19 in a long-term care facility for the elderly came on March 16.

***********************************************************************

Discussion

Leading infected age group demographic remains 18-59 years-old, which stands at 60%, continuing the uptrend of 1% continuing into the second week. The 60+ age group has decreased by 1%.

53% cases are female; 46% male; 1% unk. This reflects a continuing uptrend in cases among females into the second week.

91 of deaths are female; 138 are male; there are no longer any unk by sex.

************************************************************************

News You Can Use

David Perdue’s stock trading saw an uptick as coronavirus took hold

A map of coronavirus cases in Georgia (updated April 6)

Georgia doctors plan for wrenching choices amid slim ventilator supply

State spends $72 million for extra hospital beds, staff around Ga.

Fear spreads behind bars after two prisoner deaths at Lee State Prison

Atlantans volunteer in trial of potential COVID-19 vaccine

The vaccine, which is called mRNA-1273, is based on messenger RNA, which has been described as telling the body to produce a vigorous immune response.

(SNIP)

The 45 trial participants received different dosages — low, intermediate and high. Nurses will take blood samples from each participant about four weeks after the second injection, and researchers will see how effective the immune system of each participant is in generating antibodies against the virus.

Sheriff: Georgia man with COVID-19, girlfriend refused to self-quarantine

Surviving the coronavirus: ‘Just be grateful you’re alive’

Cobb, Marietta schools relax grading policies amid coronavirus closure

Covid19 State-by-State 4/3/20 Georgia: 11 year-old dies of Covid-19 4/2, miraculous resurrection 4/3

Limelite for Covid19 State by State

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday April 03, 2020 · 3:03 PM PDT

2020/04/03 · 15:03

The Thursday evening edition of the online Atlanta Journal Constitution published news of the first death of a Georgia child, an 11-year-old boy from DeKalb County (part of Metro Atlanta area). Case, hospitalization, and death counts are published by the Georgia Department of Health at noon and 7:00 PM daily. I immediately checked the DPH website to confirm the heartbreaking announcement. It would be the second child in the state with a confirmed coronavirus test; this one died, the other child lived. Scrolling down the ever-lengthening list of names, I affirmed the news story.

8:30 p.m.: An 11-year-old DeKalb County boy died Thursday from the coronavirus, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. Alexis Stevens reports he is the youngest from Georgia to die from the virus.

Latest Atlanta coronavirus news: Georgia’s toll at 176, including 11-year-old boy

Come the dawn — a little over 2 hours prior to my writing these words this afternnon, the news happily reversed itself.

LOCAL UPDATE: No Georgia children have died from the coronavirus

A report that an 11-year-old DeKalb County boy had died Thursday was an error, a DPH spokeswoman said Friday.

“An unfortunate one by the reporting facility, but the good news is we did not lose a child,” Nancy Nydam, DPH spokeswoman, said in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Not a word about how such a stunning error occurred. Did Alexis Stevens, who reported the death to the public for the DPH somehow mistakenly receive age information that was incorrect? But “boy” is “boy.” Did the hospital produce a death count wrongly attributing the death of a boy aged 11 to coronavirus when it was due to some other cause? But causes of death are official and can only be pronounced by MDs, whether ER, attending, or coroners, or pathologists. How likely is it that they would make such an error?

I refuse to speculate beyond there. However, I remain stunned that such an error occurred and that a DPH “spokesperson” issues a correction, and only by e-mail to the Atlanta paper. Shouldn’t some detail about such an error have been offered? Is that email an official statement from the state government?

Unless and until more information about this error is available, it is difficult to determine which is the correct headline. Errors like these — shocking and unexplained — add to the fear and confusion, already at hyper levels, that surround announcements, policies, and statistics people depend on to know what to do to protect themselves. . .and their children.

*******************************************************************

Today’s significant increase in cases is in part due to additional laboratories reporting to DPH, and also improvements in electronic reporting from other laboratories. Patient information is often incomplete and DPH works to complete the records, so data will change over time.

Georgia Department of Public Health Statistics

^{Updates Now Issued at Noon and 7:00 PM}

3/3/2020 First day of reporting 3 cases, 0 deaths

3/12/2020 First death reported 1 death

4/1/2020 Noon report 4638 cases, 952 hospitalizations. 139 or 138 deaths

COVID-19 Confirmed Cases:	No. Cases (%)
Total	5831 (100%)*
Hospitalized	1158(19.86%)**
Deaths	184 (3.16%)**

*a jump over of 1200 cases in two days; **a slight decrease in cases needing hospitalization; a 0.16% increase in the death rate.

COVID-19 Testing By Lab Type:	No. Pos. Tests	Total Tests
Commercial Lab	5428	22960
GPH labs	403	2305

***************************************************************************

Discussion

Leading age group demographic remains 18-59 years-old, which stands at 59%. A distressing trend is a-borning. The percentage has been increasing 1% every other day over the past week. The 60+ age group remains steady at 36%, as does the <18 population hold at 1%.

52% of cases are female, an increase of 1%; while males remain at 46%. This is possible because sex is not identified in every reported case, for reasons I don’t know.

77 of the deaths are female; 97 male; 10 unknown As is widely reported in China and Italy, male exceed female deaths by a significant amount.

***************************************************************************

News You Can Use

Emory hospital prepares for ‘super surge’ of COVID-19 patients

Georgia law bars limiting of gun sales during pandemic

Two Georgia school districts (_{1small and 1tiny}) end year early, others considering it

In Georgia border counties, two governors’ (Kemp (R) of GA and Ivey(R) AL) decisions spark concerns

Lawrenceville mayor wants stricter stay-at-home rules than state

How coronavirus infection rates may squeeze Georgia’s ICU hospital beds

Georgia doctors plan for wrenching choices amid slim ventilator supply

Coronavirus in Georgia: COVID-19 Dashboard Graphs and interactive map of county-by-county Covid stats

Covid19 State-by-State 4/1/20 Georgia: GA State Senator Takes His +Coronavirus on Florida Vacay

Limelite for Covid19 State by State

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 01, 2020 · 2:42 PM PDT

2020/04/01 · 14:42

Florida sheriff blasts Georgia senator for visiting island after COVID-19 diagnosis.

Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith said state Sen. Bruce Thompson, a Republican from White, arrived Tuesday night at his beachfront home in St. George, Florida.

The senator sought medical help and was hospitalized for respiratory issues and was told he was positive for Covid-19 March 22. To celebrate, he took an entourage of three vehicles to his vacation home yesterday which is located in the private community within Franklin County on the Florida panhandle, which includes the famous fishing village of Apalachicola. One Covid-19 case has been reported in the county. Said Sheriff Smith. . .

“I read his Facebook page and he had ‘hashtag stay home’ — and he’s down here in Florida,” Smith said. “If he had just stayed home we wouldn’t be in this problem. We wouldn’t be doing this.”

(SNIP)

“I am going to put a deputy out in front of his house and if he leaves we’re going to ask him why, because he’s supposed to self quarantine — which could lead to an arrest,

“I’m serious about this,” Smith said. “I’m not playing around. I appreciate his position in Georgia, being a senator, but it’s irresponsible for him to be here, I think, and to put our community in danger.”

Sen. Thompson claimed he had a clean bill of health. The CDC rules for Covid-19 post-diagnosis behavior say, a person may “end isolation if he or she has not had a fever for three days, other symptoms have subsided and it’s been seven days since symptoms first appeared.” It’s possible the senator has met those requirements. However, the National policy, the state of GA policy, and in FL, as of this afternoon’s announcement by its governor, Ron de Santis is to “stay at home.”

So what is Thompson thinking when he goes on vacation in another state?

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Today’s significant increase in cases is in part due to additional laboratories reporting to DPH, and also improvements in electronic reporting from other laboratories. Patient information is often incomplete and DPH works to complete the records, so data will change over time. — Georgia Department of Health

Georgia Department of Public Health Statistics

^{Updates Now Issued at Noon and 7:00 PM}

3/3/2020 First day of reporting 3 cases, 0 deaths

3/12/2020 First death reported 1 death

3/30/2020 Noon report 2809 cases, 707 hospitalized, 87 deaths

4/1/2020 Noon report

COVID-19 Confirmed Cases:	No. Cases (%)
Total	4638 (100%)
Hospitalized	952(20.53%)
Deaths	139 (3%)

COVID-19 Testing By Lab Type:	No. Pos. Tests	Total Tests
Commercial Lab	4281	18226
GPH Lab	357	2100

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Discussion

Leading age group demographic remains 18-59 years-old, which stands at 58% of all cases (an increase of 1% over last several reports); no reported changes from last Friday in the other age groups. Breakdown by sex shows significant change, now at 51% female and 46% male; when last reported the breakdown was 49% female, 48% male.

Deaths: 80 male 53 female 6 unk

Those deaths overwhelmingly in people over 60 years of age. The oldest was 95, the youngest was 29, unchanged since last report.

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