A fourth death was reported and 22 new cases of COVID-19 were added to the tally according to the Georgia Department of Public Health’s latest figures.

The latest death is reported as a 79-year-old female, joining three men who have previously been recorded to have perished due to an infection. In the past weeks, a 59-year-old (edit) woman and 84-year-old man each passed away due to COVID-19 in mid-July (July 18 and July 22,) joining the first death that occurred in May of a 67-year-old man.

The total number of COVID-19 cases locally is approaching 500 with the latest figure of 479 posted, marking the third day in a row the numbers have increased after a dip in new cases briefly showed up in the statistics.

Polk County’s total of hospitalizations remained at 21.

The latest death locally was part of a statewide increase of 82 in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall total to 3,442 as of the July 24 report.

Overall, the number of COVID-19 positives in Georgia stood at 161,401, increasing by another 4,813 cases in the past day. That is out of a total of 1.38 million tests conducted since tracking and testing began to ramp up in late February.

Statewide, the number of hospital patients in total since the pandemic began increased by 399 in the past day to 16,752 total patients, and out of that some 3,119 total ICU admissions were recorded.

Regionally, the Department of Public Health reported that Bartow County now has 1,283 total positives, with 51 deaths and 177 hospitalized since tracking began. Paulding posted a figure today of 1,178 people with the virus, 117 hospital patients and 18 deaths in total. Floyd now approaches the 1,000 case mark with 977 on the day, adding a hospitalization at 62 and no new deaths in the past day remaining at 15.

Haralson had 151 positives as of the July 24 report, and remained flat at 18 hospitalizations and six deaths at this time.

The nationwide spread of COVID-19 continues as the number of new cases were reported at 72,219, bringing the official total past the 4 million mark to 4,024,492 cases since tracking began earlier in the year. The number of deaths went up to 1,113, and is now at 143,868 in the United States according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention numbers.