Rant: Brutal Tuesday shows virus impact. Newscast: 4 more deaths here. 2 businesses announce closings.

Today's top headlines: Polk records first virus death; 2 more in Bartow; 1 more in Floyd. Regional total at 71; statewide, 1,895. Numbers up at local long-term care facilities. New Rome test spot. Business: Elysium on Broad Street closing after 14 years. Cartersville's Discount City begins liquidation sale Thursday after 56 years. Friends are mourning the loss of Salon Luna owner Mimi Luna who died Tuesday in a car accident in Northeast Alabama. Politics. 2 drop boxes for Floyd County absentee ballots now in place. Ware Mechanical Weather Center: About a quarter inch of rain a day now through Friday; highs in the upper 70s, low 80s. Truett's Chick-fil-A Sports Update: The YMCA reopens cardio, weight rooms; more due Friday. Rant of the Day: Virus deaths, business closings increasing. Tuesday was particularly brutal. Four more area residents died, two in Bartow, one in Floyd and the first in Polk County since all this began. At least two of them appear to have been residents at long-term healthcare facilities. They are  among the 800 Georgians to die this month -- and we'll likely top 1,000 as we still have a few days to go before June 1. Again, Tuesday was particularly brutal. We received news that a downtown Rome favorite, Elysium, and a Cartersville mainstay, Discount City furniture, were closing. They join Pier 1, Jandy's and Whistle Britches, which is in its final week. Even the Rome News-Tribune is down from publishing seven to five days a week, citing the virus and a resulting loss of advertising. Thursday could be brutal as well. We'll get the April unemployment reports that morning and they will be ugly. Already the High Court of Facebook is blaming the shelter-in-place restrictions as to why at least a few of the businesses aren't coming back. So, if that's the case, do we likewise blame the dropping of our quarantines earlier this month for a surprising spike in positive test results in Northwest Georgia, up more than 50 percent in under a month? So who has the right answer? We don't and we're not sure who does. We're encouraged by some positive steps and signs from the past 24 hours but one thing is clear. The virus is still very much with us in Northwest Georgia.