Tennessee reported record highs of almost 8,000 new cases of COVID-19 across the state on Monday, and Anderson County reported a record high of almost 100 new cases.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported 7,951 new cases of COVID-19 across the state on Monday afternoon, and Anderson County reported 93. Both are record highs and far above what is normal, in the range of at least twice as high or more, compared to most previous peaks.
More COVID-19 deaths were reported in Anderson and Roane counties during the first two weeks of November than in any previous month. That means, with two weeks remaining, November is already the worst month of the pandemic for deaths in both counties.
If current trends continue, there could also be more hospitalizations this month than in any previous month in both counties.
Anderson County reported four more deaths due to COVID-19 between Friday and Sunday, and five since Wednesday. The county has had six more hospitalizations in the past seven days.
Roane County reported four more deaths since Tuesday and seven additional hospitalizations.
[Read more…]
Oak Ridge Schools reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, a record high.
That’s almost as many cases reported in one day as has been reported in each of the previous two weeks. Twelve cases were reported in each of the last two weeks.
Twenty-three new cases have been reported since Wednesday, according to an Oak Ridge Today tally.
With the new cases, the school system has reported 56 cases of COVID-19 since October 21. The surge started after fall break, although it’s not clear if the two events are connected.
The new cases reported Friday included four students at Oak Ridge High School, three students at Jefferson Middle School, three students at Robertsville Middle School, and a staff member at Woodland Elementary School.
Recently, the most cases, 11, have been reported among Jefferson Middle School students. Those 11 cases were reported in nine days, since Thursday, November 5.
In that same time, the second-highest number of cases, nine, were reported among Robertsville Middle School students.
[Read more…]
The COVID-19 surge that started among students and staff members at Oak Ridge Schools three weeks ago continued in the school week that ended Tuesday, with the highest number of recent cases reported among Jefferson Middle School students.
There have been five COVID-19 cases reported among Jefferson Middle School students since Thursday. That’s close to half of the cases reported in Oak Ridge Schools in the past week.
There have been two student cases reported at Robertsville Middle School since Thursday and one student and one staff member case reported at Oak Ridge High School.
A total of 12 cases were reported among students and staff members in Oak Ridge Schools in the school week between last Wednesday and this Tuesday. That matched the total of 12 cases in the previous week. There were nine cases the week before. That’s a total of 33 cases in the past three weeks, or 11 per week on average.
[Read more…]
The highest number of new COVID-19 cases in Anderson County was reported in October. The increase in cases last month was about 37 percent larger than the earlier peak in July.
While October is now the peak month for cases so far, it wasn’t the worst for deaths or hospitalizations. There were three deaths due to COVID-19 in Anderson County in October and 10 hospitalizations. The most deaths, five, were reported in September, and the most hospitalizations, 16, were reported in July.
On Thursday, the Tennessee Department of Health reported that Anderson County had averaged 24.9 new cases per day during the past 14 days. That was up from 18.6 new cases per day, on average, during the previous two-week period.
The average positivity rate continues to be high. The seven-day average on Thursday was 12.6 percent, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
[Read more…]
Two more COVID-19 deaths were reported in Anderson County on Friday as the state reported a record-high number of deaths, 78, and the current upward trend in new cases has surpassed the July peak. A new case was reported in Oak Ridge Schools (a staff member at Oak Ridge High School), and two more hospitalizations were reported in Anderson County.
COVID-19 cases have been surging up for the second time this year in Anderson County and Tennessee, and heading up for the third time nationwide. It’s not clear when any of those upward trends might peak.
Anderson County reported record-high one-day increases on Wednesday (40) and Thursday (46). The new case counts were lower on Friday (35) and Saturday (20).
The county has had a total 1,868 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began March 20. There have been 16 deaths and 49 hospitalizations.
[Read more…]
Note: This story was updated at 4:45 p.m.
Anderson and Roane counties reported record-high one-day increases in COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as the pandemic appears to have returned to or surpassed July levels. Anderson County set another record on Thursday.
Roane County reported 41 new cases on Wednesday, and Anderson County reported 40.
Update: Anderson County reported another record increase on Thursday, 46 new cases. It’s the second day of a record increase in COVID-19 cases in Anderson County.
The previous high in Anderson County was 39 on July 23. Until now, July had been the worst month of the pandemic.
The previous high in Roane County had been 34 on October 23. It followed an earlier peak of 33 on July 23.
Oak Ridge is in both 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.
[Read more…]
Note: This story was updated with a new case at ORHS at 5:15 p.m.
Twenty-eight cases of COVID-19 have been reported among students and staff members in Oak Ridge Schools this school year, and six of those are current cases, according to data published by the school system.
The majority of the cases, 23 of the 28, have been among students. The most cases have been reported at Oak Ridge High School, with nine student cases and two staff cases, or 11 total.
Jefferson Middle School has had the second-highest total of cases, with five student cases and two staff cases, or seven total.
No cases have been reported at Linden Elementary School, Secret City Academy, and Willow Brook Elementary School.
[Read more…]
The COVID-19 positivity rates in Anderson County and surrounding counties have been high recently, and one additional death and five more hospitalizations were reported in Anderson County in two days this week.
The positivity rate in Anderson County was close to 10 percent on Thursday and higher than 10 percent in five of the seven surrounding counties. It was highest in Union County, where the positivity rate was 18.4 percent.
The 14th death in Anderson County was reported by the Tennessee Department of Health on Thursday, and the five new hospitalizations were reported on Wednesday and Thursday.
The positivity rate measures the percentage of new daily tests that return positive results out of all the new daily tests. A higher positivity rate means more people are testing positive out of those who are tested each day.
[Read more…]
The most recent testing for evidence of COVID-19 in the city’s sewer system documented a significant increase in particles per liter in the east plant, putting that area in a red zone for uncontrolled transmission.
The east plant is the area generally east of New York Avenue and north of Oak Ridge Turnpike.
In the last test, the east plant was up to 2.4 million positive genetic particles per liter. That was an increase of almost 35 times from the prior weekly test result of 69,000 positive genetic particles per liter, according to information provided by Oak Ridge Public Works Director Shira McWaters at a City Council work session on Tuesday evening.
[Read more…]
Note: This story was updated at 3 p.m. Oct. 16
After peaking in July and falling in August, the average number of new COVID-19 cases per day appears to be trending back up in Anderson County.
In the past two weeks, the seven-day average of new cases in Anderson County was more than 15 per day, according to calculations by Oak Ridge Today. The county had 100 new cases between Friday and Wednesday.
Twice in the past three days, the number of new cases reported in one day has been 30 or more. The Tennessee Department of Health reported 30 new cases of COVID-19 in Anderson County on Monday. Thirty-five more new cases were reported on Wednesday.
That’s a level generally not seen since late July, the worst month of the pandemic so far. The highest number of cases reported in the county in one day was 39 on July 23 and again on July 27.
The average number of new cases per day fell in August after the July peak and then appeared to generally plateau for a month or so. But now the overall trend seems to be one of rising new case numbers, especially since an early September low.
[Read more…]
An engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory died of COVID-19 on Saturday.
It’s the first death of an ORNL employee due to COVID-19.
The engineer, William Collier, 59, became sick the last weekend of August. He appears to have contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the community, the lab said Tuesday.
Collier worked in the Nonreactor Nuclear Facilities Division at ORNL. His obituary said he grew up in Oak Ridge, graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1979, and graduated from Tennessee Technological University in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He worked for 37 years at ORNL and the Y-12 National Security Complex.
“The loss of a coworker was a possibility we have feared since the pandemic began, and our hearts go out to their family, friends, and colleagues,” ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia said in a message to staff members Tuesday. “This news tragically underscores the significance of the lab’s efforts to understand and combat COVID-19 and hardens our commitment to preventing its transmission and spread, through our own behaviors on campus and through research that is aiding the global fight against the virus.”
[Read more…]