The weekly status update for Covid-19, released by the Georgia Department of Public Health shows Chattooga County as back down in the yellow zone, after entering the Red zone for positive cases last week.

The new report, released on December 7th, shows a decrease in the number of tests performed, down to 491 from the 536 tests performed the week prior. Even though the percentage of positive cases increased to 16.7%, the fact that less people tested moved Chattooga County from the Red Zone. The Georgia Department of Public Health has classified each county in Georgia into 3 zones, Green, Yellow, and Red based off of the number of people tested and the percentage of positive cases. 92 counties in Georgia are in the Yellow zone with Chattooga County, 57 counties are still in the Red Zone, while 10 counties have made it into the safer, Green Zone.

While surrounding counties are still offering drive-up test sites, Chattooga County Health Department is now requiring an appointment prior to testing. Testing is still free for those who are symptomatic at the local Health Department. A weekly schedule for each testing site that requires no appointment can be found at https://nwgapublichealth.org/