It’s a fact of life these days: COVID-19 cases remain on the rise.

Polk County’s total cases hit 178 for the end of the week in the Georgia Department of Health’s daily report, an increase of three in the past 24 hours. That makes the increase over the week so far at 14 new cases overall for the virus locally. The number of hospitalizations in total remained flat at 15, and the number of deaths locally has remained at 1 since late May, when a May 8 death was reported.

Locally, among the positive cases have been three who reside in nursing homes. That includes one at Cedar Springs Health and Rehab, Cedar Valley Nursing and Rehab – both in Cedartown – and one more Rockmart Health.

Statewide, the number of new positives in the past 24 hours was reported at 1,097 cases, which brought the total since late February to 62,009 people who have contracted COVID-19. Some 798,284 Georgians have been tested to date, which puts the total statewide infection rate of those tested at exactly 8%.

COVID-19 has sent 9,772 people to the hospital and required 2,122 ICU admissions as of June 19, and was the cause of death for 2,636 Georgians, an increase of 31 on the day.

Polk County’s neighbors have also reported increased figures again. Here’s how those looked in the June 19 report:

• Bartow County posted 10 new cases of COVID-19 to put the total positives at 583, with 150 people who have been hospitalized from the virus. Their death toll remained at 39.
• Up Highway 278 in Paulding County, the number of cases jumped by 14 in the past 24 hours to put up a total of 453 positives for the virus. Their number of hospitalizations remained at 86, and their deaths stood at 14 on the day.
• Northward in Floyd County, officials reported 399 positives for the novel coronavirus, which was an increase of 12 on the day. Hospitalizations remained at 49, and the number of deaths at 15.
• Figures remained the same in Haralson County for the daily report, with 62 positives for the virus. Their number of hospitalizations remained at 16, and the number of deaths at four.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s national tally put the number of COVID-19 cases at 2,178,710, an increase of 23,138 cases compared to the June 18 data. That increase also came with 733 new deaths reported nationwide to bring the total to 118,365.