Roane County reported a record-high new 67 COVID-19 cases on Monday, and the test positivity rate in the county is very high, close to 20 percent, according to data published by the Tennessee Department of Health.
In a Facebook update, Roane County Executive Ron Woody reported an even higher number of new cases on Monday, 72. Woody said about half of those cases might be linked to one group of people.
The previous record of new daily cases in Roane County was 41 on Wednesday, October 28. (The high in Anderson County, also reported last week, is 46.)
The 14-day case average through Thursday was 26.2 new cases per day. That’s up from 15.3 in the previous two-week period in Roane County and higher than the current two-week average of 24.9 new cases per day in Anderson County.
On Thursday, the state health department said the seven-day average of the positivity rate in Roane County was 19.4 percent. That’s very high. The World Health Organization has recommended that the positivity rate be at 5 percent or lower for 14 days before activities re-open. The daily positivity rate measures the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests out of the new daily tests.
Roane County has reported 1,590 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, with 39 hospitalizations and 10 deaths. There are 1,294 cases that are considered inactive, according to the state health department.
As previously reported on Oak Ridge Today, Anderson County has reported a total of 1,959 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began March 20, with 53 total hospitalizations and 18 deaths, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. The number of inactive cases was reported at 1,658. On Thursday, the seven-day positivity average was 12.6 percent.
Oak Ridge is in Anderson and Roane counties. Most of the city’s residents live in Anderson County, but the west end of the city is in Roane County.
In neighboring Knox County, there have been 14,053 COVID-19 cases reported, according to the Tennessee Department of Health, with 100 deaths and 485 hospitalizations. The 14-day case average is 134.2 new cases per day, which is also up from the previous two weeks. The positivity rate has averaged 13.9 percent during the past seven days.
To the south, Loudon County has had 1,768 cases, with 50 hospitalizations and 13 deaths. The positivity rate has averaged 10.8 percent.
To the northwest, Morgan County has reported 472 cases, with 11 hospitalizations and six deaths. The positivity rate is 7.3 percent.
