In less than two weeks, November is already tied for deadliest month for COVID-19 in Anderson County, and if current trends continue, the county could have the most hospitalizations this month.
Since Tuesday, Anderson and Roane counties have reported six deaths and nine hospitalizations.
By Friday, five deaths due to COVID-19 had been reported in Anderson County in the first 13 days of November, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Health. That means November is already tied for September as deadliest month.
Three of the deaths were reported between Wednesday and Friday.
There have been 10 hospitalizations in Anderson County since November 1. That’s already tied with October, the second-worst month, and on track to surpass July, the worst month for hospitalizations. There were 16 COVID-19 hospitalizations in Anderson County in July.
Three of the new hospitalizations were reported Thursday.
Anderson County has had 2,272 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began March 20, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. There have been 21 deaths and 59 total hospitalizations.
New cases in the county remained relatively low until the summer. There was a COVID-19 peak in July, followed by a drop in cases in August. There appeared to be somewhat of a plateau after that, followed by another increase in new cases in October. The current upward trend is significantly worse than the earlier July peak, and it’s not clear when this upward trend will peak.
The county is currently averaging about 30 new cases of COVID-19 per day.
The positivity rate, which measures how many COVID-19 tests are positive out of the new tests each day, remains high. The seven-day average in Anderson County on Friday was 11.6 percent. The Tennessee Department of Health has a 10 percent goal, and World Health Organization guidelines call for a positivity rate below 5 percent for 14 days before activities re-open.
The fatality rate among known cases is about 0.9 percent, and the hospitalization rate is roughly 2.6 percent.
Roane County has had 1,864 cases of COVID-19, with 13 deaths and 47 hospitalizations. The 14-day new case average is 29.8 new cases per day, and the seven-day average of the positivity rate is 13.1 percent.
The death rate there is about 0.7 percent, and the hospitalization rate is approximately 2.5 percent.
Roane County reported three more deaths between Wednesday and Friday, and six more hospitalizations between Tuesday and Thursday.
Knox County has had 15,400 cases, with 113 deaths and 512 hospitalizations. The 14-day new case average is 149.9 new cases per day, and the seven-day average of the positivity rate is 11.0 percent.
The fatality rate among known cases in Knox County is about 0.7 percent, and the hospitalization rate is roughly 3.3 percent.
Cases are growing significantly in Tennessee as well and trending up for the third time nationally. Tennessee has passed 300,000 total cases, has set recent records for daily deaths (more than 80 per day sometimes), and current hospitalizations have reached record highs close to 1,800. The positivity rate in Tennessee on Friday was 14.7 percent.
Nationally, new cases are growing at an alarming rate. In less than a week, new daily cases have grown from in the range of about 100,000 new cases per day to roughly 170,000. Current hospitalizations are at all-time highs. There were roughly 69,000 current hospitalizations on Friday, and daily deaths were at 1,301, with experts anticipating that they could eventually climb back over 2,000 per day.
