Note: This story was last updated at 10:15 p.m.
Tennessee set another record in new daily cases of COVID-19, with 1,822 more cases reported Friday.
The number of active cases in the state rose to more than 18,000.
There have now been more than 11,000 cases in Shelby County, which includes Memphis in West Tennessee, and more than 10,000 cases in Davidson County, which includes Nashville in Middle Tennessee.
In East Tennessee, the case count has passed 1,000 in Knox County, which includes Knoxville, and there are more than 2,000 cases in Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga.
Eleven more illnesses were reported in Anderson County on Friday. That’s the highest one-day increase.
There have now been 116 cases in Anderson County. Subtracting recoveries and deaths, there are now 42 active cases in the county, which is a high.
The previous new statewide daily high was 1,806 on Wednesday. That’s now the second-highest new daily total.
The third-highest daily total was also reached in the past three days, when the state reported 1,575 new cases on Thursday.
Hospitalizations have been increasing across the state. In the past two weeks, they dropped to 395 on Saturday, June 20, but then they increased to 660 on Thursday. More patients are in the hospital now than at any other point since the pandemic began in Tennessee about four months ago, according to News Channel 5 in Nashville. Reporter Phil Williams reported that the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has more than doubled in the last month.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported 48,712 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, with 633 deaths. There have been 2,825 hospitalizations and 29,591 recoveries.
The case doubling time appears to have been shortening. Not long ago, it was about a month and a week. On Friday, it was about 31 days.
The case doubling time is shorter in Anderson County, about 21 days.
The statewide positivity rate (new cases divided by new tests) has remained about the same in the past several days. It was 7.5 percent on Friday.
The positivity rate is lower in Anderson County, but it was the highest of the past week on Friday at 4.8 percent.
There have been two deaths and 72 recoveries in Anderson County.
State, county statistics
Statewide, the hospitalization and death rates have dropped over time, but the recovery rate has dropped recently as well as the number of active cases has climbed.
The hospitalization rate is now about 5.8 percent, and the death rate is about 1.3 percent. The recovery rate is about 61 percent.
The average age of patients has also dropped in the past few months. It’s now at about 39.
The highest number of cases in the state are in Shelby County. The case count there is 11,145. There have been 197 deaths in Shelby County.
In Davidson County, 10,450 cases have been reported, and 118 deaths have been reported.
Other counties with case counts of more than 1,000 include Rutherford (Nashville area), with 2,854 cases and 35 deaths; Hamilton (Chattanooga area), with 2,665 cases and 33 deaths; Sumner (Nashville area), with 1,559 cases and 52 deaths; Trousdale (Turner Trousdale Correctional Center), with 1,494 cases and five deaths; andWilliamson (Nashville area), with 1,226 cases and 14 deaths.
Knox County is also now on that list. Knox County had 1,086 total cases on Friday, with five deaths reported.
Another East Tennessee county, Sevier County, a tourist destination, has seen its case count climb significantly. Sevier County now has 768 cases and three deaths.
Here is COVID-19 case information about other counties surrounding Anderson County:
- Loudon County has reported 277 cases and one death.
- Roane County has reported 59 cases and no deaths.
- Campbell County has reported 44 cases and one death.
- Morgan County has reported 25 cases and one death.
- Scott County has reported 18 cases and no deaths.
- Union County has reported 16 cases and no deaths.
COVID-19 is a new, contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly and 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.
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, and it continues to climb in older age groups. There have been between 116 and 214 deaths in the three oldest age groups: 61-70, 71-80, and 81 and older.
While some people report no symptoms or mild symptoms, others become seriously ill, sometimes for weeks, and the effects can sometimes last for months. Others are admitted to the hospital, and some end up in intensive care and on ventilators.
To help prevent the virus from spreading, officials have been repeatedly recommending 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.
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