The Thursday afternoon report from the Georgia Department of Public Health on the status of COVID-19 in the community and statewide saw more cases added, and another hospital patient in Polk County.

DPH’s latest report put the figure at 27 new positives on the day, and another hospital patient bringing the tally to 743 COVID-19 cases in the community since testing and tracking began earlier in the year, and 37 hospital patients who have required treatment for the virus. Since the beginning of the month alone, six people have required medical care for the virus beyond what they are able to do at home.

As of the August 6 report released this afternoon, 11 people have died locally. Five of the deaths have been reported since August 2. Since the beginning of the month, the number of cases has increased by 106. It took from mid-March when the first case was reported locally to get close to that number of total cases. Additionally of note, Polk County has added cases on a daily basis since June 30 when a case was taken away in the DPH reporting, and the local total sat at 233 positives.

The numbers have also increased by double digits in that time frame on 22 occasions, including today’s increase of new cases. The daily record remains at 38, set on July 15.

The Georgia Department of Community Health reported that most of the deaths in Polk County have mainly occurred in two senior residential facilities in Cedartown, seven in all in recent weeks.

Cedar Valley Nursing and Rehab reported six deaths from the virus so far, with 25 residents testing positive and 24 staff members in the latest report from DCH. One has taken place at Big Springs Place in Cedartown as well, where two residents tested positive along with three staff members. Other facilities have also seen low numbers of staff or residents test positive, and in all cases there were no more than two among either group.

Recent deaths – two alone reported on Wednesday – have added to the statewide total of 4,026 since tracking began in late February. Another 42 people perished due to the virus according to the Department of Public Health in Georgia in the past 24 hours based on the August 6 figures.

Georgia also surpassed another milestone today. Some 20,002 people have now been treated statewide for the virus, an increase on the day of another 214 patients. Out of the total figure, Georgia hospitals have treated 3,647 intensive care patients for COVID-19 symptoms.

All totaled, 204,985 people have tested positive for the virus statewide since tracking began, an increase in the past day of 3,250 cases. That doesn’t yet figure into the Center of Disease Control and Prevention numbers that were released today and confirmed on Wednesday, which put the national tally at a new 53,685 positives between August 4 and August 5. They put the total number as of Wednesday at 4,802,491 COVID-19 positives since tracking began in the United States.

The nationwide death toll increased closer toward another milestone, hitting 157,631 as of August 5. That was an increase day-over-day of 1,320 deaths.

In context, that is a single day loss of the same number of men killed during Operation Grenade in the latter half of World War II, part of the invasion of Germany that led to the end of the war. That operation lasted two weeks and 1,330 Americans were killed in the fighting.