The number of COVID-19 cases has tripled in Anderson County since early July, and the number of hospitalizations has doubled.
Anderson County had 105 total cases of COVID-19 on July 2, when the growth in cases started to accelerate. On Tuesday, it had more than three times as many cases, 327.
The number of active cases—total cases minus recoveries and deaths—has increased even faster. The number of active cases in Anderson County on July 2 was 32. On Tuesday, the county had about five times as many active cases, 154.
The number of total cases and active cases—now 327 and 154, respectively—have both increased about 50 percent in one week.
Anderson County hospitalizations increased to 21 on Tuesday. That’s up from 10 on July 5, meaning more than half of the county’s hospitalizations have occurred in less than three weeks. Seven of the hospitalizations have been in the past week.
Anderson County has reported a third death due to COVID-19, the first since June 4. Joe Lenhard, a former U.S. Department of Energy executive and a founder of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, died of COVID-19 on Friday at Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.
Separately, an Oak Ridge employee who worked at the Y-12 National Security Complex and lived in Maryville died of COVID-19 on Wednesday at Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville.
Anderson County and Roane County both had record-high increases in new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. Anderson County reported 27 new cases, and Roane County reported 22 new ones.
The previous high for Anderson County was 23 new cases on July 8. The previous high for Roane County was 10 new cases on June 12.
Anderson County has about 77,000 residents. Roane County has about 53,000.
The daily positivity rate in Anderson County has ranged between about 5.4 percent and 15.2 percent in the past week. The daily positivity rate compares new daily cases to new daily tests. A higher percentage means more people are testing positive of those who are tested.
The overall positivity rate, comparing all cases to all tests, continues to climb in the county. It’s now up to 3 percent, almost a 2 percent increase from about 1.3 percent on July 1.
Meanwhile, the case doubling time in Anderson County has dropped from 22 days to 13 days. That means the virus case count is increasing faster.
The average number of new cases per day in the seven-day period ending Tuesday was 15.4.
That’s about triple the average number of new cases per day in the seven-day period ending July 7 (two weeks earlier): 5.86.
Here are the COVID-19 statistics for Anderson County on Tuesday. Some are reported by the Tennessee Department of Health, and others are calculated by Oak Ridge Today and Tennessee COVID-19 Case Tracking
Coronavirus-19 Outbreak Response Experts (CORE-19) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
- Total cases—327
- New cases—27
- Active cases—154
- Deaths—3
- Death rate—0.9 percent
- Recoveries—170
- Recovery rate—52 percent
- Hospitalizations—21
- Hospitalization rate—6.4 percent
- Daily positivity rate—7 percent
- Total positivity rate—3 percent
- Average new cases per day (seven-day period): 15.4
- Case doubling time: 13 days
- Transmission rate: 1.11 (When the rate is more than one, the number of new infections will increase.)
Most Oak Ridge residents live in Anderson County, but the west side of the city is in Roane County.
Here are Tuesday’s COVID-19 statistics for Roane County, which has reported about 50 new cases in one week:
- Total cases—147
- New cases—22
- Active cases—75
- Deaths—0
- Death rate—0 percent
- Recoveries—72
- Recovery rate—49 percent
- Hospitalizations—9
- Hospitalization rate—6.1 percent
- Daily positivity rate—7.4 percent
- Total positivity rate—1.9 percent
- Average new cases per day (seven-day period): 7.57
- Case doubling time: 12 days
- Transmission rate: 1.18
Outside of Anderson and Roane counties, the state of Tennessee reported 81,944 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. Tennessee has about 6.8 million residents, so that’s more than 1 percent of the state’s residents.
In the seven-day period ending Tuesday, Tennessee averaged 2,165 new COVID-19 cases per day, up from 1,896 a week earlier.
The seven-day average of deaths per day across the state remained about the same at 14.86.
Here are the COVID-19 statistics for Tennessee on Tuesday, as reported by the Tennessee Department of Health:
- Total cases—81,944
- New cases—2,190
- Active cases—33,221
- Deaths—871
- Death rate—1.1 percent
- Recoveries—47,852
- Recovery rate—58.4 percent
- Hospitalizations—3,798
- Hospitalization rate—4.6 percent
- Current hospitalizations (on Monday): 1,038, with 423 pending
- Daily positivity rate—9.5 percent
- Total positivity rate—6.6 percent
- Average patient age—38
The first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Tennessee on Wednesday, March 4. Since then, there have been more than one million COVID-19 tests in Tennessee.
The number of active cases across the state continues to increase, and current hospitalizations have also increased, more than doubling since about June 19-20. At the same time, the hospitalization rate has dropped significantly, while the death rate has dropped less. The statewide recovery rate has also fallen, as has the average age of patients.
State, county statistics
The highest number of cases in the state is in Shelby County, which includes Memphis in West Tennessee. The case count there was 16,904 on Tuesday, up more than 2,000 compared to a week earlier. There have been 252 deaths in Shelby County.
In Davidson County, 16,545 cases have been reported, also an increase of more than 2,000 cases in one week. In that county, 172 deaths have been reported. Davidson County includes Nashville in Middle Tennessee.
Other counties with case counts of more than 1,000 include:
- Rutherford (Nashville area), with 4,716 cases and 43 deaths;
- Hamilton (Chattanooga area), with 4,424 cases and 40 deaths;
- Williamson (Nashville area), with 2,599 cases and 18 deaths;
- Sumner (Nashville area), with 2,571 cases and 62 deaths;
- Knox (Knoxville area), with 2,539 cases (up more than 700 in a week) and 18 deaths (up six in a week);
- Wilson (Nashville area), with 1,664 cases and 19 deaths;
- Trousdale (Turner Trousdale Correctional Center), with 1,547 cases and 6 deaths;
- Bradley (Cleveland area, near Chattanooga), with 1,271 cases and 8 deaths;
- Putnam (Cookeville area), with 1,267 cases and 8 deaths;
- Montgomery (Clarksville area), with 1,196 cases and 9 deaths;
- Robertson (east of Clarksville), with 1,160 cases and 15 deaths; and
- Sevier (Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville), with 1,156 cases and 4 deaths. That’s up about 200 cases in one week.
Here is COVID-19 case information about other counties besides Roane and Knox counties that surround Anderson County:
- Loudon County has reported 437 cases, up about 100 cases in a week, and its third death.
- Campbell County has reported 102 cases, up 27 cases in a week, and one death.
- Union County has reported 56 cases, up 27 cases in a week, and no deaths.
- Morgan County has reported 45 cases, up 11 cases in a week, and one death.
- Scott County has reported 38 cases, up 16 cases in a week, and no deaths.
COVID-19 is a new, contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly. It can cause a range of health issues that can last weeks or months, including fevers, body aches, fatigue, coughing, and breathing problems, among other reported symptoms. The long-term effects remain unknown.
It can be spread by respiratory droplets from coughing, sneezing, talking, and singing. There is also debate about whether it might be spread by airborne transmission.
The disease appears to be especially deadly to patients who are 61 years old and older, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Health. In Tennessee, the number of deaths starts rising in the 41-50 age group, with 42 or more deaths in those age groups, and it continues to climb in older age groups. There have been between 165 and 287 deaths in the three oldest age groups: 61-70, 71-80, and 81 and older.
The largest number of cases continues to be among patients who are 21 to 30 years old, followed by patients who are 31 to 40, and then patients who are 41 to 50.
The average age of patients has dropped in the past few months. It’s now at about 38.
While some people report no symptoms or mild symptoms, others become seriously ill from COVID-19, sometimes for weeks, and the effects can sometimes last for months. Others are admitted to the hospital, and some patients end up in intensive care and on ventilators.
To help prevent the virus from spreading, officials have repeatedly recommended that residents wear a face mask or covering when they are out of the house and around others, maintain a distance of at least six feet from other people when possible, and wash their hands frequently.
See the state’s data here and here.
See the CORE-19 website here.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
You can contact John Huotari, owner and publisher of Oak Ridge Today, at (865) 951-9692 or [email protected]
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