The COVID-19 case rate in Anderson County remains low, but it is rising quickly–and the positivity rate has spiked over 20 percent, according to information published by the Tennessee Department of Health. There has been another death due to COVID-19 in Anderson County.
In late June and early July, the number of new cases of COVID-19 per day in the county had dropped to an average of roughly one new case per day. That was the lowest level observed in a year or more, since the first peak in July 2020.
In the past week or so, though, the new case average has climbed past two, then three, and now four new cases per day.
During the past 14 days, Anderson County has averaged 4.4 new cases per day, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. That was up from 0.8 new cases per day in the previous two weeks.
The positivity rate, which measures how many patients test positive out of those tested each day, has climbed even quicker. It had been in a low range of around 2 percent to 3 percent, lower than the World Health Organization guideline of 5 percent. But Tennessee Department of Health data shows the positivity rate has spiked past 20 percent, which is high, and the seven-day average has climbed quickly to 10.2 percent in about a week or so. The number of tests per day remains fairly low, however, and it’s not clear what part the low test rate might play in the high positivity rate. When the case count was higher, Anderson County was testing several hundred people per day.
In the past 2.5 months, since April 30, there have been 19 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in Anderson County and five deaths. Those deaths and hospitalizations came even after the number of new cases per day dropped below 10.
The total number of cases in Anderson County since the pandemic began March 20, 2020, is 8,883. Two hundred thirty-four people have been hospitalized, and 177 patients have died.
COVID-19 cases are rising quickly in Tennessee as well. The state has gone from a new daily case average in the range of a few hundred to 1,300 on Wednesday. The number of current hospitalizations has also climbed from a few hundred to more than 500 on Wednesday. More than 12,000 people have died.
The Tennessean newspaper reported that the new coronavirus is spreading almost entirely among the unvaccinated as the state’s vaccination rate has slowed.
On Friday, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that COVID-19 is becoming a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from the coronavirus are increasing nationwide, with more than 97 percent of new hospitalizations in patients who are unvaccinated, Walensky said, according to U.S. News and World Report. Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said cases are expected to increase in the coming weeks as the now-dominant Delta variant spreads. (See also here.)
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations on the Tennessee Department of Health website.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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