The second death in Polk County for 2021 was recorded as first full week of the new year came to a close, along with another record day of new COVID-19 positives according to the Georgia Department of Public Health’s afternoon update tracking the virus.

Polk County added 75 new positives – a second day record increase after 67 were reported on Thursday – bringing the overall figure jumping to 2,846 total cases since tracking began with the first case locally in March 2020.

That brings the January total over the past 8 days to 276 positives, more than was reported in June, September, October, and November for each of those months. Today’s new positives also increased the overall positivity rate again to 15.2%, and the two-week moving average to 32.6%.

Locally, the latest death today of a 68-year-old white female with no co-morbidity factors listed is the 46th person who has perished from COVID-19 reported since tracking began locally from May of last year until now.

Thursday’s death – the first of 2021 – was an 85-year-old white male with co-morbidity factors involved in his death.

Here’s the list of COVID-19 deaths locally in 2021 for those who want to keep track in a separate item.

Other factors tracked for the virus also increased locally and statewide on the day. New hospitalizations in Polk County were up by another four admissions, bringing the overall total to 254 since tracking began last year. That increase brought the January total so far to 33.

Also increasing were the number of antigen positive tests administered, with 6 more added to that tally to bring the total to 975. Statewide, that figure jumped 3,032 antigen positives reported, with 116,679 people who have tested positive for COVID after the fact since tracking began in Georgia at this point.

The state also saw a new record increase of current positives, up 10,393 on the day to 620,247 cases reported since tracking began. That jumped the positivity rate to 10.5% across Georgia.

Along with a jump in new cases, hospital admissions went up by hundreds again. 391 new patients were admitted to Georgia medical centers in the past day, bringing that total to 44,187 people treated for COVID-19 since late February 2020. The number of new patients admitted in the past 8 days now sits at 2,103 people.

Intensive care admissions went up by another 48 in today’s report as well in Georgia. That figure overall now sits at 7,690.

Sadly, another 80 people died from COVID-19 in today’s reporting, bringing the overall death toll from the virus to 10,180 people. In the past 8 days, 312 people have perished from the virus or related causes.

On the national level, the death toll was hitting new highs as well. Another 4,180 people died from COVID-19 today, bringing the overall tally of Americans who have died from the virus to 364,029 according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest update.

The number of COVID cases increased by another 279,401 positives, bringing the total to 21,539,398 since January 2020 per the Atlanta-based agency.