The numbers continue to bounce up and down for Polk County as the number of new positives went up again, and Polk County’s new number of hospital patients admitted increased as well.

Data released this afternoon from the Georgia Department of Public Health put the increase of new cases of COVID-19 in Polk County at eight on the day, which brought the total to 1,498 positives out of the 11,179 tests reported by labs from around the area. That continues to keep the county at a 13.4% rate still, though the two-week rate went down to 7.7% from the 7.8% it sat at yesterday.

The other metric increase locally was for the two new hospitalizations reported by the state, bringing that total to 104 people treated overall since tracking began in early March for COVID-19.

After the report of the first death in weeks from the virus of a Polk County resident at midweek, no new increase was reported by the state for the afternoon and the number remained at 18.

Georgia’s overall number of cases increased to 319,334 overall, a jump of a new 1,376 positives on the day but a decrease from day-to-day in new COVID-19 cases reported by the state. That out of more than 3.2 million tests conducted since tracking began in late February.

Overall, the positive rate bounced back down a tenth of a percentage point to 10.1% to start the month of October.

Statewide, the number of patients being treated for COVID-19 went up by another 146, a slight decrease from the previous day of new admissions. That brought the overall total of people treated for the virus’s symptoms to 28,668 in total, and out of that some 5,300 people have needed intensive care treatment for COVID-19.

Georgia’s death toll went back up by another 43 people who sadly died from the virus or issues worsened by the symptoms of COVID-19, bringing that total to 7,063. The state surpassed the 7,000 mark to end the month of September.

Nationally, COVID-19 grew by another 45,342 positives confirmed from Tuesday to Wednesday to close out September, bringing the overall total to 7,213,419 cases reported since tracking began earlier in the year according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s daily reporting.

The Atlanta-based agency reported that another 1,030 people died at midweek to end the month, which brought the death toll to 206,402.