Polk County saw record-busting days of new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and Friday, and Saturday saw another jump in positives growing toward the 2,900 mark fast.

The Georgia Department of Public Health’s afternoon report put the total of COVID-19 positives for Polk County at 2,894 on the day – an increase of another 48. The figure saw the two-week moving average of positives back down just slightly to 32.4% from Friday’s new high of 32.6%. The overall rate however jumped again to 15.6% of total tests administered have come back with a positive for COVID-19.

Based on the figures available and using the standard formula for finding a total number from a percentage and the total of positives, Polk County has now had 18,551 tests administered since tracking began. That’s equivalent to around 42% of Polk County’s population being tested.

Another figure that rose was the number of antigen positives, now at 1,015 people who have had COVID-19 antibodies found in their bloodstream. That was a jump of a new 40 additional antigen positives on the day.

For the opening of the month of January alone, Polk County has now seen an increase of a new 295 positives added to the tally. The antigen positives have gone up by another 131 in that same time frame.

So far, Polk County has reported two deaths in 2021 and more than 30 people have been hospitalized. Including a Polk County Sheriff’s Office Gang Investigation Unit Sergeant who is now an intensive care patient.

What didn’t increase today were new deaths and hospitalizations. Those figures remained at 46 and 254 respectively for Saturday’s report from the DPH.

The state overall figures were once again near new record levels, with an additional 9,017 positives for the virus reported by the DPH, bringing the overall total to 629,652.

Unfortunately, the largest increase in new deaths for 2021 so far happened this afternoon, with another 100 Georgians added to the tally overall of people who have perished due to COVID-19 or its symptoms worsening other conditions. That increased the death toll to 10,280 since tracking began last year.

Hospitalizations and ICU admissions were also up statewide. Another 323 people were admitted to Georgia medical centers on the day, and an additional 37 people needed intensive care for COVID-19 added to the state’s report this afternoon. That put hospital patient totals for COVID-19 at 44,510 people and ICU admissions at 7,727 people.

The state’s overall infection rate remained at 10.5% on the day after increasing a tenth of a percentage point on Friday.

Nationally, the figures continued to be grim. An additional 314,093 positives reported across the country by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention brought the overall total of COVID-19 cases to 21,853,491. Just in the past nine days alone of the New Year, the United States has added 2,189,515 new positives for the virus.

The death toll continues to climb as well with a new 3,623 people to have been reported to have died from COVID-19 or causes that were worsened by symptoms of the virus, bringing the total to 367,652.