Note: This story was last updated at 4 p.m. We have added some of Wednesday’s COVID-19 statistics to this story, which initially focused on Tuesday’s numbers.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County rose to 500 on Tuesday, and the county has reported its fourth and fifth deaths due to the new coronavirus.
Three of the county’s five deaths have been in the past two weeks. Two of those have been in the past week.
On Wednesday, Anderson County reported another 36 new cases of COVID-19—just below the all-time high of 39—and the total number of cases climbed to 536.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in the county has more than doubled in 13 days. There were 252 COVID-19 cases in Anderson County on July 16.
The 536 cases reported Wednesday means about 0.7 percent of the county’s roughly 77,000 residents have been infected with COVID-19.
The number of active cases (total cases minus recoveries and deaths) continued to increase significantly, rising to 271 on Wednesday, according to data published by the Tennessee Department of Health. (The number of active cases had been 241 on Tuesday.) Active cases increased by 118 in Anderson County in one week. They have more than doubled in the past two weeks.
The county reported a record-high 39 new daily cases twice in the past week, first on Thursday and then again on Monday.
The average number of new COVID-19 cases per day in the county increased by about nine in the past week. In the seven-day period ending Tuesday, Anderson County averaged about 24.7 new cases per day. That was up from an average of 15.4 new cases per day in the previous week. And it was more than double the average of 10.86 new cases per day two weeks earlier.
The total number of hospitalizations had remained stable at 22 for six days before increasing by two to 24 on Tuesday and then by one more to 25 on Wednesday. The Tennessee Department of Health doesn’t release the number of current hospitalizations by county but does report total hospitalizations by county. Half of the hospitalizations in Anderson County have been since July 10.
The growth in new COVID-19 cases in Anderson County seemed to accelerate starting around July 2. At that time, less than a month ago, Anderson County had 105 total cases and 32 active cases. Since then, total cases have quintupled, and active cases have increased about 8.5 times.
The case doubling time remained in the range of 12-13 days on Tuesday. The hospitalization rate dropped about 1.5 percent from a week ago, while the recovery rate remained close to 50 percent.
The county’s hospitalization and death rates are close to the statewide rates, but the county’s recovery rate is about 10 percent lower than the statewide rate.
The daily positivity rate in Anderson County, comparing new daily cases to new daily tests, remained high, usually in the range of 9 to 10 percent during the past week. It was 10 percent on Tuesday. That means that one out of 10 people who were tested for COVID-19 tested positive.
The high daily positivity rate has driven up the overall positivity rate, which compares all new cases to all new tests since the state reported the first case in Anderson County on March 20. As of Tuesday, the overall positivity rate was up to 3.9 percent. In early July, it was 1.3 percent.
The transmission rate remained at about 1.16 on Tuesday, according to data published by Coronavirus-19 Outbreak Response Experts (CORE-19) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. If the rate is greater than one, the number of infections will increase.
Here were the COVID-19 case statistics for Anderson County on Tuesday (July 28):
- Total cases—500 (This went up to 536 on Wednesday.)
- New cases—31 (There were 36 new cases on Wednesday.)
- Active cases—241 (There were 271 active cases on Wednesday.)
- Deaths—4 (A fifth death was reported Wednesday.)
- Total hospitalizations (the state doesn’t report current hospitalizations by county)—24 (There was one more hospitalization reported Wednesday.)
- Recoveries—255 (Five more recoveries were reported Wednesday.)
- Total tests —12,966
- Daily positivity rate—10 percent
- Total positivity rate—3.9 percent
- Case doubling time—12 days
- Hospitalization rate—4.8 percent
- Death rate—0.8 percent (The death rate increased to 0.9 percent on Wednesday with the fifth death.)
- Recovery rate—51 percent
- Seven-day new daily case average—24.7
- Seven-day new daily test average—275.6
- Transmission rate—1.16
For comparison, here were the statistics for two weeks earlier (July 14):
- Total cases—219
- New cases—8
- Active cases—101
- Deaths—2
- Total hospitalizations (the state doesn’t report current hospitalizations by county)—14
- Recoveries—116
- Total tests —9,680
- Daily positivity rate—20 percent
- Total positivity rate—2.3 percent
- Case doubling time—12 days
- Hospitalization rate—6.4 percent
- Death rate—0.9 percent
- Recovery rate—53 percent
- Seven-day new daily case average—10.6
- Seven-day new daily test average—149
