Tennessee reported record highs of almost 8,000 new cases of COVID-19 across the state on Monday, and Anderson County reported a record high of almost 100 new cases.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported 7,951 new cases of COVID-19 across the state on Monday afternoon, and Anderson County reported 93. Both are record highs and far above what is normal, in the range of at least twice as high or more, compared to most previous peaks.
More COVID-19 deaths were reported in Anderson and Roane counties during the first two weeks of November than in any previous month. That means, with two weeks remaining, November is already the worst month of the pandemic for deaths in both counties.
If current trends continue, there could also be more hospitalizations this month than in any previous month in both counties.
Anderson County reported four more deaths due to COVID-19 between Friday and Sunday, and five since Wednesday. The county has had six more hospitalizations in the past seven days.
Roane County reported four more deaths since Tuesday and seven additional hospitalizations.
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In less than two weeks, November is already tied for deadliest month for COVID-19 in Anderson County, and if current trends continue, the county could have the most hospitalizations this month.
Since Tuesday, Anderson and Roane counties have reported six deaths and nine hospitalizations.
By Friday, five deaths due to COVID-19 had been reported in Anderson County in the first 13 days of November, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Health. That means November is already tied for September as deadliest month.
Three of the deaths were reported between Wednesday and Friday.
There have been 10 hospitalizations in Anderson County since November 1. That’s already tied with October, the second-worst month, and on track to surpass July, the worst month for hospitalizations. There were 16 COVID-19 hospitalizations in Anderson County in July.
Three of the new hospitalizations were reported Thursday.
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Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson learned on Friday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
The positive result came after a test on Saturday, City of Oak Ridge spokesperson Lauren Gray said.
She said Watson has mild symptoms and no fever; he is just tired.
It’s unclear when and where he was exposed to the virus.
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Oak Ridge Schools reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, a record high.
That’s almost as many cases reported in one day as has been reported in each of the previous two weeks. Twelve cases were reported in each of the last two weeks.
Twenty-three new cases have been reported since Wednesday, according to an Oak Ridge Today tally.
With the new cases, the school system has reported 56 cases of COVID-19 since October 21. The surge started after fall break, although it’s not clear if the two events are connected.
The new cases reported Friday included four students at Oak Ridge High School, three students at Jefferson Middle School, three students at Robertsville Middle School, and a staff member at Woodland Elementary School.
Recently, the most cases, 11, have been reported among Jefferson Middle School students. Those 11 cases were reported in nine days, since Thursday, November 5.
In that same time, the second-highest number of cases, nine, were reported among Robertsville Middle School students.
[Read more…]Starting Monday, middle school students who attend classes in person will return to the alternating schedules used earlier this year, Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers said in a letter to families and staff members on Friday.
The transition back to alternating schedules is due to an increase in the number of students being quarantined, Borchers said. Quarantined students cannot attend school at all for face-to-face instruction, he said.
“We realized that bringing all middle school students together had the potential to increase the number of students we would be sending home to quarantine when a single peer tests positive for COVID-19,” Borchers said. “Due to the increase in the number of students being quarantined, it is our plan to transition back to the alternating A/B schedule effective Monday, November 16, 2020.”
Most students at the middle schools and high school had started the school year with staggered schedules. A minority of students selected an online-only option.
Using the staggered schedules, some students have attended classes on Mondays and Thursdays, and others have attended on Tuesdays and Fridays. Students have then had online classes the other three days.
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In a press release Thursday, the City of Oak Ridge said it is alarmed by the 12.5 percent positivity rate for COVID-19 in the Oak Ridge area, and wastewater testing shows the disease is present across the city.
The positivity rate measures the percentage of tests that return positive results out of the new tests each day. A 12.5 percent positivity rate means that 12.5 tests are positive out of each 100 new tests, on average.
A 12.5 percent positivity rate is high. World Health Organization guidelines call for a positivity rate below 5 percent for 14 days before activities re-open.
In its press release, the city said the 12.5 percent positivity rate in the Oak Ridge area was measured earlier this week and was obtained from zip-code specific data from the Tennessee Department of Health.
[Read more…]The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the availability of the ORETTC Final Environmental Assessment (EA), Finding of No Significant Impact, and Wetland Statement of Findings.
The Final EA analyzes the potential impacts of constructing and operating the ORETTC to train first responders and other experts in nuclear operations, safeguards, and emergency response.
The proposed site for the ORETTC is on the Oak Ridge Reservation, approximately 5 miles west of the Y-12 National Security Site, across from the Horizon Center Industrial Park on the Oak Ridge Turnpike, and approximately 1.5 mile east of the State Route (SR) 95—SR 58 interchange. Copies of the documents are available on the NNSA NEPA web page (https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room) and/or the DOE NEPA web page (https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doe-environmental-assessments).
Tennessee reported a record number of COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations on Wednesday.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported 89 more deaths and 1,713 current hospitalizations (up by 79). That’s the most deaths ever reported in one day due to COVID-19 in Tennessee and the highest number of current hospitalizations.
The previous high number of deaths in one day in Tennessee was 78 on Friday, October 30.
The previous high number of current hospitalizations was 1,634 on Tuesday. And Monday (1,543) was the previous high before that.
The statewide positivity rate, 11.67 percent, remained high on Wednesday.
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Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, resigned Friday.
The NNSA oversees the work at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and other nuclear weapons sites across the nation. The NNSA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, maintains nuclear warheads, produces fuel for the nuclear navy, and works on nuclear nonproliferation, among other activities.
Gordon-Hagerty, who was also under secretary of energy for nuclear security, became the first woman to lead the NNSA in February 2018.
It’s not clear why she resigned Friday or whether her resignation was voluntary.
Defense News reported that the resignation was driven by almost a year of clashes between Gordon-Hagerty’s office and Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, including over budgets.
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The COVID-19 surge that started among students and staff members at Oak Ridge Schools three weeks ago continued in the school week that ended Tuesday, with the highest number of recent cases reported among Jefferson Middle School students.
There have been five COVID-19 cases reported among Jefferson Middle School students since Thursday. That’s close to half of the cases reported in Oak Ridge Schools in the past week.
There have been two student cases reported at Robertsville Middle School since Thursday and one student and one staff member case reported at Oak Ridge High School.
A total of 12 cases were reported among students and staff members in Oak Ridge Schools in the school week between last Wednesday and this Tuesday. That matched the total of 12 cases in the previous week. There were nine cases the week before. That’s a total of 33 cases in the past three weeks, or 11 per week on average.
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One hundred twenty-five new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Anderson County this weekend as the state upgraded its surveillance system while warning, on Saturday, of higher potential new case numbers across the state as a backlog is cleared.
Anderson County reported 63 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, a record high, and another 62 new cases on Sunday.
Another 53 new cases were reported on Monday. From Friday to Monday, 217 new cases were reported in the county.
Before Saturday, the previous daily high in Anderson County was 46.
The 14-day average of new cases in the county exceeded 30 new cases per day for the first time. It was 31.1 on Sunday. The average in the previous two-week period was 21.6.
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