The numbers are definitely going down in recent days – into low single digits of new positives – but a new hospital patient saw that tally increase slightly according to the Tuesday afternoon release from the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Today’s pair of positives came off of 15 tests submitted to the state system over the past day, bringing those overall total to 1,519 positives out of 11,595 overall test results submitted to the state since tracking began in early March for the virus.

That kept the overall percentage of positives out of test results submitted at 13.1%, but brought the two-week average down by another percentage point to 4.5, the sixth day in a row that figure has decreased as well.

The past 11 days have only seen single-digit growth in new cases with each afternoon’s report from the DPH, starting with a major dip from Sept. 25 to Sept. 26 numbers that has stayed that way through the beginning of the month.

Polk County’s number of new hospital patients went up to 108 with the single admission added to the state figures on the day. The death toll remains flat at 18 since the last reported death on Sept. 30, the sixth day in a row without a new death reported from COVID-19.

In a release from the Department of Public Health, the agency reported a 67% decrease in the number of new positives from the peak in late July, but did note an increase in the seven-day average of new case from Sept. 29 through Oct. 5 of 3.4%.

They also noted the first 207,000 Abbott BinaxNOW Rapid COVID-19 Tests being delivered for use across Georgia.

The number of new positives on the day was back up slightly from Monday at 979, bringing the overall total of positives reported to 324,650 across Georgia since tracking began in late February for the virus. Georgia’s overall number of hospitalizations drastically increased day-to-day in that time frame from 29 admissions noted from Sunday to Monday, to 167 new admissions from Monday to Tuesday. That brought the overall total of patients treated to 29,154. Out of that figure, 5,405 people have needed intensive care treatment for the virus.

The DPH release did add that “Daily hospitalizations for COVID-19 have decreased from 1,317 on Sept. 28 to 1,271 on Oct. 5, or a decrease of 3.5% in the past week. Hospitalizations have decreased 60% since a daily high of 3,200 on July 30.”

Health officials in the release also noted a flattening in the number of emergency room visits for influenza-like illnesses in the state from Sept. 19 through Oct. 2, and locally that number decreased 5% or more. They also noted a statewide decrease in new cases among school-aged youth.

Sadly, another 39 people died as of October 6, bringing the overall death toll to 7,229. Nationwide, the number of deaths went up by 361 to 209,506.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s tally confirmed as of Monday, Oct. 5 of the total number of cases stood at 7,436,278, which was an increase of 39,548 positives.