Wheeler Co. At No. 1 Nationally For COVID-19 Rate, But Data Mix-Up Blamed

State public health officials said that they became aware of unreported COVID-19 cases at the Wheeler Correctional Facility last week.

This story was originally published at Georgia Health News.

A ‘‘data dump’’ of prison COVID-19 cases appears to have lifted a southeast Georgia county into the top position nationally on a New York Times hot spot list for the disease.

The county, Wheeler, is home to a large state prison.