COUNTY COVID CASES EXAMINED

Recent Covid  numbers indicated that the approaching fall season may look more like normal in Tennessee and Jefferson County. As of the final day of Summer 2020, only .7% , well less than 1%, of Jefferson County residents that have tested for the Coronavirus, are currently in the active phase of the virus. To date, 15,447 residents of Jefferson County have been tested and 1,066 have been identified as virus positive during the course of the pandemic. Of those 1066 only 106 are still on the active list. Nearly half of the current active cases in Jefferson County are nursing home related and the recent upticks in registered deaths are also residents of local nursing homes. For several weeks, Jefferson County death toll hung around the 7 mark but recently jumped to 14 causing some concern regarding the sudden increase. The State of Tennessee Health Department has attributed that rise in number to spread in one nursing home facility in Jefferson County.

Across the State of Tennessee, testing numbers are up but hospitalization numbers, positive case numbers and deaths associated with Covid 19 are down. For several days the Tennessee Department of Health has posted a 90% or above recovery rate for the Covid 19 virus and a steady 4% hospitalization rate. While some citizens infected with the virus are experiencing more serious symptoms, the hospitalization rate does not distinguish between those having a short stay in the hospital and those needing intensive care. This spring Tennessee was reported to have 24,700 bed in hospitals across the state. As of date 693 are currently in use for Covid related illness. In total, Tennessee has tested 2.6 million people and 184, 409 have tested positive for the Coronavirus. The number of active cases of the virus in Tennessee is a little over one quarter of one percent of the population in the state. In Jefferson County the number of active cases is less that one quarter of one percent of the population of the county.

As the numbers continue to fall, even with the opening of schools across the state and several months into the tourist season, some areas are still in a phased reopening mode. It is still unclear if Tennessee State Legislature will intervene on behalf of residents, schools and businesses to allow a return to business as usual across the state.