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First COVID-19 death reported in Anderson County

Posted at 10:54 am April 9, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Note: This story was updated at 11:20 a.m.

The Tennessee Department of Health on Wednesday reported the first death of a COVID-19 patient in Anderson County.

No information has been released about the patient.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the friends and family of the individual who succumbed to COVID-19,” Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said. “I had sincerely hoped we would not have suffered a death in our community, and I am deeply sorry for that individual.”

COVID-19 is a contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly.

Frank said testing continues to increase, but the positive results seem to have stabilized. Anderson County held at 10 cases for seven days (March 31-April 6) and ticked up by one to 11 cases on April 7, even as testing continued to climb, Frank said.

In a five-day period (April 4-April 8), negative testing climbed from 203 to 290, the mayor said. During that period, there was only one positive diagnosis out of an additional 88 tests, Frank said.

“I have been encouraged by the voluntary spirit in our community to follow CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Tennessee Department of Health guidelines,” she said.

Anderson County confirmed its first COVID-19 case on March 20. By March 31, the county had climbed to 10 cases.

As of Friday, April 3, six of the county’s cases were confirmed recovered by the Anderson County Health Department. Frank said she expects to have more recovery information by the end of this weekend.

Filed Under: Anderson County, COVID-19, Front Page News, Government, Health, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County, COVID-19, Tennessee Department of Health, Terry Frank

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