Counting COVID Cases: Double-digit increase in positives for the midweek report, two new hospital patients added to the local tally

After a day where the Georgia Department of Public Health reported only single-digit increases in COVID-19 cases and one less hospital patient in total, the numbers went back up again.

Polk County’s new COVID-19 positives increased by 16 on the day, and two new hospital patients were added in the midweek report from the DPH. The number of deaths remained flat for the second day of September as well.

That brings the overall total of COVID-19 positives locally to 1,236 and the number of hospital patients treated for the virus to 80 overall since tracking began statewide in late February. The number of deaths remained at 15 overall. Locally, the percentage of positives for testing sits at 14.8%, and fell to the same percentage for the number of positives reported in the past two weeks.

Georgia’s overall percentage of people who have the virus stood at 10.5% – a decrease of a percentage point from the rate over the past few days – after another 2,201 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall tally to 274,613 people who have contracted COVID-19 or been found with it since late February. That is out of more than 2.6 million tests administered over that time.

Another 178 people were hospitalized – a number that has bounced around in recent days but overall has been lower in the past weeks – and brought the overall number of patients treated for the virus to 25,025. Out of that figure, 4,588 people have needed intensive care treatment in medical centers overall.

Sadly, 68 Georgia residents died due to the virus or complications from other health issues that were worsened due to the symptoms caused by COVID-19. That brings the total to 5,795 deaths from COVID-19 since tracking began statewide.

6,047,692 positives have been reported nationwide by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as of their Sept. 2 update. The agency’s update added another 43,249 positives confirmed between Monday and Tuesday. The report also added another 1,033 deaths between the first two days to start the week, bringing the overall confirmed number of deaths nationwide to 184,083.