Hundreds of more cases of COVID-19 were added to the total number of positives, but only one of those accounted for a daily increase in Polk County.

The tally rose to 175 with the single increase of positive tests that have come back for the virus, but the number of hospitalizations remained flat at 15 in total, and there were no new deaths which remained at just one locally.

Georgia’s total number of cases rose to 60,912 for June 18, an increase of 882 positives for COVID-19 out of the 778,570 total tests administered since the end of February.

COVID-19 has hospitalized 9,663 Georgians – an increase of 120 new patients around the state in the past 24 hours, and out of that some 2,109 people have needed treatment in intensive care. That was a total increase of 25 new patients in ICUs around the state.

Sadly, Georgia’s death toll from COVID-19 increased by 20 to 2,605 people in the June 18 report.

Around the area, the figures were as follows:

• Cases in Bartow County now stood at 573 positives, but the hospitalizations stood flat at 148 and the deaths at 39 for the daily report. They only reported three new cases on the day.
• Eastward in Paulding County, the total stood at 437 cases – a jump of 12 new positives in the past 24 hours for the virus. The number of hospitalizations went up by four patients to 86, and Paudling’s number of deaths from the virus increased by one to 14.
• Seven new cases were reported in Floyd County in the past day to bring the total to 387 positives for COVID-19, and two new hospitalizations were required to bring the tally to 49. The number of deaths remained flat at 15.
• Haralson County added a positive test result to bring the total to 62 as of June 18, and remained flat with 16 hospitalizations and four deaths.

Nationwide, a new 22,834 positive cases were reported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to bring the tally to 2,155,572, and out of that 117,632 Americans have died from the virus. That increase amounted to 754 additional people who have perished across the country in the past 24 hours.

Among other COVID-19 related news, Capitol Beat reported today that Governor Brian Kemp and school officials are seeking a waiver to call off standardized testing for the 2020-21 school year. The report added that “Kemp and State School Superintendent Richard Woods also aim to suspend annual teacher evaluations for the upcoming school year.”