Note: This story was updated at 3:50 p.m.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Tennessee rose to 228 on Friday, up from 154 on Thursday. The new total includes the first confirmed case in Anderson County.
The number of cases increased about 48 percent from Thursday to Friday.
The 48 percent jump from Thursday to Friday followed a 57 percent increase from Wednesday to Thursday. That increase, the largest day-to-day increase, was due to more tests being available, said Lisa Piercey, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health.
The contagious respiratory illness, which can be lethal, is now reported in 26 of Tennessee’s 95 counties, up from 17 counties on Thursday. Besides Anderson County, Blount County is reporting its first new case.
There are now 101 cases in Davidson County, which includes Nashville in Middle Tennessee. That’s about 44 percent of the state’s total cases.
Williamson County, south of Nashville, has 35 cases.
The number of cases in Sumner County northeast of Nashville has risen to 11.
Those three Nashville-area counties alone account for about 64 percent of the state’s cases.
After Sumner County, the next highest total of cases is five in Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga in southeast Tennessee.
Shelby County, which includes Memphis in West Tennessee, has four cases.
Knox, Montgomery, and Wilson counties each have three cases, and Cheatham, Cumberland, Dickson, Robertson, and Washington counties each have two.
The counties with one case each are Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Dyer, Greene, Hamblen, Jefferson, Maury, Rutherford, Sevier, Sullivan, and Tipton.
There are 40 cases that were diagnosed in Tennessee but where the resident lives out of state.
The largest number of cases continues to be among 21- to 30-year-olds. There are 72 cases in that age group, or about 32 percent of the total.
There are 47 cases among 31- to 40-year-olds, or about 21 percent.
With 119 cases total, those two age groups combined, 21- to 40-year-olds, account for more than half, or about 52 percent, of all cases.
Here is the age breakdown:
- 0-10 years old: 3 cases
- 11-20: 12
- 21-30: 72
- 31-40: 47
- 41-50: 35
- 51-60: 26
- 61-70: 16
- 71-80: 13
- 80+: 4
The Tennessee State Public Health Laboratory has completed 613 COVID-19 tests. Of those, 563, or about 92 percent, have been negative. Fifty came back positive, or about 8 percent.
Commercial and private laboratories have returned 178 positive test results. The numbers of negative tests and total tests completed are not reported for those labs.
COVID-19 is caused by a new coronavirus, and it was first reported in China in December. Since then, it has spread around the world, infecting more than 260,000 people and killing more than 11,000. More than 80,000 people are reported to have recovered, and China reported no new cases on Thursday.
Among the nations that have been hit the hardest is Italy, where the death toll has now surpassed China’s.
In the United States, more than 16,000 cases have been reported, and 215 people have died.
COVID-19 has been reported to have a death rate of about 1 percent, which would reportedly make it about 10 times as lethal as the flu, or even higher, as high as 3.4 percent.
Most people are reported to have had mild to moderate symptoms, if any, but some people might require medical care, sometimes including intensive care.
Leave a Reply