Gov. Brian Kemp addresses the coronavirus crisis earlier this month. (Photo by Beau Evans)

ATLANTA – The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Georgia soared past 1,000 Tuesday, while the number of deaths rose to 32.

The state Department of Public Health attributed the significant increase over the 772 confirmed cases reported on Monday in part to “improvement in electronic reporting efficiency from commercial laboratories.”

As of noon Tuesday, 1,026 Georgians had confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 32 had died from the virus, a mortality rate of 3.12%.

The virus has spread to 85 counties. Fulton County continues to far outpace the rest with 184 confirmed cases, followed by DeKalb County with 94, Dougherty County with 90, Cobb County with 86, Bartow County with 75 and Gwinnett County with 45.

Gov. Brian Kemp’s executive order requiring Georgians considered at risk of contracting COVID-19 to stay at home took effect at noon Tuesday. Some local governments – including Atlanta, Athens, Savannah and DeKalb County – have gone further by requiring everyone to stay at home.

With both types of shelter-in-place orders, exceptions include trips to grocery stores and pharmacies and to and from work for those in essential jobs who can’t work from home.

As of noon Tuesday, the state had tested 1,378 Georgians for coronavirus, and commercial labs had tested 4,106.

The highest prevalence of the virus was among those between the ages of 18 and 59, with 56% of the cases in that group. Georgians age 60 and older accounted for 36% of cases.

Women accounted for slightly more COVID-19 cases than men.