COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia (U.S. state)  The COVID-19 pandemic was first detected in the U.S. state of Georgia on March 2, 2020. The state's first death came ten days later on March 12. , there were 87,709 confirmed cases, 11,500 hospitalizations, and 2,849 deaths. All of Georgia's 159 counties now report COVID-19 cases, with four counties (Gwinnett, Fulton, DeKalb and Cobb) now reporting over 5,000 cases. Three low-population counties (Early, Randolph and Terrell) have higher per capita case rates and death rates than New York City. The city of Albany became a major hot spot within the state with one of the highest densities of COVID-19 infections in the world based on the size of its population. With approximately 75,000 residents, there have been 973 confirmed cases and 56 deaths at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, with many more still awaiting test results, quarantined inside their homes . The hospital also received media attention after CEO Scott Steiner said they had exhausted their entire six-month stockpile of medical supplies intended for COVID-19 response in just six days due to the extent of the outbreak. As the hospital rushed to meet supply demands for PPE, they experienced price gouging and received defective equipment from black market medical suppliers in Mexico, which resulted in a plan for staff workers to manually sew respiratory masks. In response, Albany and surrounding Dougherty County declared a shelter-in-place order lasting two weeks on March 20. Governor Brian Kemp declared an "unprecedented" public health emergency on March 14 and ordered on March 16 that all public schools, colleges, and universities in the state close from March 18 through the start of April. COVID-19 was first detected in a prison inmate on March 20. On March 23, gatherings of over 10 people were banned, bars and nightclubs were ordered to close, and a shelter-in-place order for the "medically fragile" was issued. On April 2, a statewide shelter in place order was announced. On March 23, Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms signed a 14-day stay-at-home order to direct all city residents to stay at home except for performing essential tasks through April 7. This followed a city-wide state of emergency on March 15 prohibiting "large public gatherings of more than 250 people" and a March 20 order for businesses to close.