The number of COVID-19 cases in Tennessee passed 20,000 on Sunday.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported 20,145 confirmed cases on Sunday, with 336 deaths and 12,837 recoveries since the first case was reported in the state in early March.
It was a 1.8 percent daily increase in the number of new cases. During the past two weeks, the daily percentage increase has ranged from 0.6 percent to 3.7 percent.
The number of new cases reported in Tennessee each day has ranged between and 100 and 623. The number of new cases reported Sunday was 356.
The number of deaths reported per day has ranged between two fatalities and 14 the past two weeks. Seven deaths were reported on Sunday.
The doubling time in the number of cases—the amount of time it took to go from 10,000 cases to 20,000 cases—was 26 days. For deaths, it was about 32 days (166 deaths on April 22 and 336 on Sunday). That’s a longer doubling time than reported earlier in the pandemic in Tennessee.
The seven-day average of the percentage increase in new cases in Tennessee had dropped from 2.41 percent on May 12 to 1.79 percent on May 20, but it climbed back up to 2.11 percent on Sunday.
It’s not clear what impact, if any, the expiration of the “stay at home” order in April and the re-opening of businesses last month and this month have had on the increase in the number of cases.
The number of cases reported in Anderson County remained relatively low at 39 on Sunday. Thirty-three of the Anderson County patients are reported to have recovered.
For at least the past two weeks, the number of cases in Anderson County has grown by one or two cases per day at most, and most days (eight of the 14), the number hasn’t increased at all. The number of cases in Anderson County rose from 33 on May 11 to 39 on Sunday.
The difference between the total number of cases in Anderson County and the number of recovered has ranged between five and eight the past two weeks.
There has been one COVID-19 death in Anderson County.
About 64 percent of COVID-19 patients in Tennessee had recovered as of Sunday (12,837 of 20,145 cases), according to the Tennessee Department of Health. The state health department said recovered patients are those who have been confirmed to not have symptoms and have completed their required isolation period—or it’s been at least 21 days since they had their first test confirming their illness.
The death rate, compared to total number of reported cases, remains at 2 percent (336 fatalities out of 20,145 cases).
The hospitalization rate has declined slightly to 8 percent, compared to earlier reports on Oak Ridge Today, when it was at 9 percent. There have been 1,583 hospitalizations in Tennessee. The state does not report which counties the hospitalizations occurred in, and it’s not clear how many of the patients remain in the hospital.
COVID-19 is a new, contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly and can cause a range of health issues, including fevers, body aches, fatigue, coughing, and breathing problems, among other reported symptoms. Patients who are 61 years old and older appear to be especially vulnerable, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Health. About 85 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the state have been among patients who are 61 years old and older (284 of 336 deaths).
The number of deaths in Tennessee starts rising in the 41-50 age group (16 deaths, or 5 percent of them). It continues to climb in older age groups:
- 30 deaths (9 percent of the total) in the 51-60 age group,
- 71 deaths (21 percent) in the 61-70 age group,
- 96 deaths (29 percent) in the 71-80 age group, and
- 117 deaths (35 percent) in the 81-and-older age group.
The disease has affected more males and been deadlier for them. As of Sunday, 11,004 cases (55 percent) were among males, and 187 deaths (56 percent) were among males.
The largest percentage of COVID-19 cases continues to be among patients who are 21 to 30 years old. That age group accounted for 4,073 cases, or 20 percent of patients as of Sunday. Another age group, 31-40, was also at about 20 percent with 3,971 cases.
There were 3,479 cases (17 percent) in the 41-50 age group, and 2,918 cases (14 percent) in the 51-60 age group.
There have been 383,576 COVID-19 tests in Tennessee at the state public health laboratory and at other labs. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the state includes both confirmed cases and cases that are presumed to be positive. About 5.3 percent of tests in Tennessee have been positive, down from a 6.2 percent rate reported earlier on Oak Ridge Today.
On Sunday, the state reported that 94 of the deaths from COVID-19 have occurred in Shelby County, which includes Memphis in West Tennessee. There have been 57 deaths in Davidson County, which includes Nashville in Middle Tennessee, and 45 deaths in Sumner County northeast of Nashville.
Davidson County has reported 4,518 COVID-19 cases, and Shelby County has reported 4,336.
Seven Nashville-area counties had 7,669 total cases on Sunday: Cheatham (104), Davidson (4,518), Robertson (371), Rutherford (998), Sumner (811), Williamson (512), and Wilson (355). That was about 38 percent of the state’s total.
Sumner County has had 45 deaths, and Rutherford County has had 22.
There have been 14 deaths in Hamilton County, which has 552 cases and includes Chattanooga in southeast Tennessee, and five deaths in Knox County, which includes Knoxville in East Tennessee. Knox County has had 331 cases, with 293 of those recovered on Sunday.
Besides Knox County, here were the case totals in other counties surrounding Anderson County on Sunday: Campbell (17, with one death and 16 recoveries), Loudon (132, with no deaths and 54 recoveries), Morgan (17, with no deaths and six recoveries), Roane (15, with no deaths and nine recoveries), Scott (11, with no deaths and 11 recoveries), and Union (4, with no deaths and three recoveries).
See the Tennessee Department of Health website here.
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