Another death from COVID-19 was reported by the Georgia Department of Public Health today, marking the fourth this week so far per the latest daily report.

Per the DPH’s reporting system, the latest death reported from the virus is that of an 82-year-old man with no pre-existing conditions known to have contributed to his death.

On Thursday, two deaths were reported and on Wednesday a single death, which makes the seventh death of the month of October so far and the 25th that is attributed to COVID-19 or other conditions that are worsened by the virus since tracking began with the first case in early March.

The DPH data also noted the 116th patient that has been admitted for treatment of COVID-19 to area medical centers with today’s report, an increase of five new patients being treated for the virus locally. That also marked the 14th admission for the month of October alone.

Polk County’s total number of cases went up by another 13 on the day – the second day this week with a double digit increase after a significant period of only single digit cases reported for the virus. That put the overall figure of 1,597 positives that have been reported since the first case was reported earlier in the year. Even with the increase in cases, the positive rate went down as the total number of results reported back to the DPH increased significantly.

Another 304 new results were added to the system, which in turn brought the positive rate down even with the increase by two-tenths of a percentage point on the day to 12.5%. The increase in new positives has seen the two-week moving average go back up, now sitting at 8.6% with the increase in results back to the DPH a whole percentage point of its own.

Georgia’s overall rate of positives remained the same, however, even with another day-over-day increase of new positives reported in the week-ending update. Some 1,701 new cases of COVID-19 reported by the state brought the overall total up to 337,850 which left the rate at 9.7% positives out of the 3.5+ million tests that have been submitted to the state since tracking began.

Out of the positives, some 30,217 patients have been treated for COVID-19 since tracking began. That was a daily increase as of Thursday of 136 new admissions to statewide medical centers. Out of the total figure, 5,614 Georgians have needed intensive care treatment overall.

Sadly, 7,556 people have died due to COVID-19 or contributing factors worsened by the symptoms of the virus. That was an increase day-over-day of 65.

Nationally, COVID-19 so far is listed as the reason for the deaths of 216,917 people as of Thursday confirmed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That was an increase of another 892 people.

The Atlanta-based agency reported another 63,486 people have tested positive for the virus, increasing the overall total to 7,958,254 confirmed as of Thursday afternoon.