The Georgia Department of Public Health’s latest report added a new death to the total in Polk County, an additional increase of 37 new cases and two new hospital patients in the midweek report.

A 62-year-old female with no other known health factors was reported as the latest death from COVID-19 in Polk, bringing the tally to six. Today’s lone increase was just a small fraction of the 79 deaths reported in the midweek report from DPH, which brings the statewide tally to 3,642 people who have sadly perished from the virus.

Four of the six people who have died locally have had other health factors reported as part of their death, known as comorbidity. The only other death to not have any known pre-existing conditions that might have impacted a patient’s ability to survive the virus was the first, a 67-year-old male.

Today’s report (July 29) also saw Polk County’s total number increase to 584 cases since tracking began (again, 37 new cases,) and added two new hospital cases to bring the total to 26.

Locally, Polk County has based on day-to-day tracking now increased 203 cases in the past two weeks. In previous records and reporting, it took Polk County from mid-March when the first case was reported locally until June 27 to reach that figure.

Since the start of the month, Polk County has added 361 new positive for the virus and five deaths

On the state level, the total increased by 3,373 positives to land at a total of 178,323 cases of COVID-19 found in residents through testing, and more than 1.5 million test have been conducted since late February. Out of that figure, another 420 hospital patients were added to the tally, bringing the number of total hospitalizations to 17,964 patients in Georgia treated overall. An increase of another 65 intensive care patients in the past 24 hours brought the total number of ICU patients to 3,301.

Regionally, Bartow County remains the area with the largest number of patients around Polk’s borders. They reported 1,440 total confirmed positives since tracking began, with 55 people who have died and 200 people who have needed hospital treatment over the past months. Paulding remained close behind in their total case count as it grew to 1,306 positives, with 119 patients treated in total and 18 deaths from the virus.

In Floyd County, the totals were now up to 1,138 positives since tracking began, 71 people who have needed hospital treatment and 15 deaths. The numbers in Haralson County to the south were still the lowest in the area, at 179 total cases, 19 people hospitalized and six deaths.

Nationwide, COVID-19 cases grew by another 59,862 positives in the past day according to the latest Center for Disease Control and Prevention figures, putting the total number of cases at 4,339,997 across the country. Another 1,194 people died from the virus in the past day, which increased the total since tracking began to 148,866 deaths.