Oak Ridge Today

Hospitals urge vaccinations as COVID hospitalizations, infections rise

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Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Submitted file photo)

Hospitals and health care networks in East Tennessee on Wednesday urged those who are eligible to get vaccinated as COVID-19 infections rise and hospitalizations reach and pass winter peak levels. They also encouraged people to wear face masks and maintain physical distances when possible.

“The past 18 months have been difficult for everyone in many ways, and the surge in COVID-19 infections over the past months has been exceptionally challenging,” the hospitals and health care networks said in a joint statement. “We have seen a sharp rise in delta variant-related infections, and community hospitalizations have exceeded the COVID-related census we witnessed in January 2021.”

The statement was from Blount Memorial Hospital, Covenant Health (which includes Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge), East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, Sweetwater Hospital Association, Tennova Healthcare, and University of Tennessee Medical Center.

The statement recognized that people are eager to move on from the coronavirus pandemic, and it said vaccinations will help.

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Oak Ridge school board approves mask mandate

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Oak Ridge school board member Angi Agle, right, proposed a mask mandate inside Oak Ridge school buildings, and her motion was seconded by board member Ben Stephens, left. The school board approved the mandate, which has a written opt-out per an executive order by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, in a 3-1 vote on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021.

Note: This story was last updated at 12 a.m.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education approved a mask mandate in a 3-1 vote on Monday.

The approval of the mask mandate, which is similar to a mandate at four Anderson County schools, occurred as the school system reported about 180 COVID-19 cases among students and staff members in less than three weeks. COVID cases have now been reported at all schools: the preschool, all four elementary schools, both middle schools, the high school, and Secret City Academy.

The mask mandate approved Monday will require masks indoors in school buildings unless the school system has received a written opt-out notice from a parent or guardian in compliance with an executive order issued by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee last week.

The Oak Ridge school year started Wednesday, July 28, with face masks being optional. However, as cases increased significantly in three schools, masks were required there. Those three schools were Jefferson Middle School, Robertsville Middle School, and Willow Brook Elementary School.

But when the governor announced his order last week, Oak Ridge Schools said it would no longer require masks. That changed with the mandate approved by the school board on Monday.

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Vaccinations double as COVID cases increase

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New daily vaccinations have about doubled in Anderson County in the 40 days since COVID-19 cases began increasing on July 12, 2021. However, the increase in average daily vaccinations has not been as large as the increase in average daily cases, according to calculations by Oak Ridge Today. And less than 50 percent of Anderson County residents are fully vaccinated. (Chart by Oak Ridge Today using Tennessee Department of Health data and Flourish)

New daily vaccinations have about doubled in Anderson County in the 40 days since COVID-19 cases began increasing.

However, the increase in the seven-day average of daily vaccinations has not been as large as the increase in cases, according to calculations by Oak Ridge Today. And less than 50 percent of Anderson County residents are fully vaccinated.

The number of new COVID-19 cases reported each day began rising again in Anderson County on July 12 as the United States began experiencing a fourth surge driven by the more transmissible Delta variant.

From July 12-18, Anderson County reported a daily average of five new COVID cases per day. At the same time, there were 98.4 new vaccines per day.

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69 COVID cases reported in Oak Ridge Schools

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This graph shows the total number of COVID-19 cases in Oak Ridge Schools between Wednesday, Aug. 4, and Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. The number of cases this fiscal year increased more than seven times in eight days, from nine to 69. Total cases include both current cases and recovered, and they include both student and staff cases. (Data from Oak Ridge Schools/Chart by Oak Ridge Today using Flourish)

Sixty-nine cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Oak Ridge Schools this fiscal year. Sixty of those cases have been reported in the past eight days, since Wednesday, August 4. Two dozen cases were reported in the past two days. Students have been back in school about two weeks.

Three schools have had more than 10 cases each, and one, Willow Brook Elementary School, has had more than 20. Willow Brook is the only school where face masks are required.

The largest number of cases is at Willow Brook, where 23 COVID cases have been reported. Some are no longer considered current. Current cases include 16 student infections and two staff member infections.

Robertsville Middle School has had the second-highest number of cases with 17 total. Thirteen are current student cases, and one is a current staff case.

Jefferson Middle School has the third-largest number of cases with 11 total. Ten of those are current student cases.

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Sixteen cases of COVID in Oak Ridge Schools

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The COVID-19 Case Count Dashboard for Oak Ridge Schools on Thursday morning, Aug. 5, 2021.

Sixteen cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Oak Ridge Schools this school year. Fifteen of those cases are current, and one is recovered, according to the school system. The number of current cases appears to have about doubled in a few days, from eight to 15.

Almost half of the current cases, seven of them, are at Willow Brook Elementary School. Four of those cases are students, and three are staff members. That outbreak appears to have been reported in the past few days. A few days ago, there was one staff case reported at Willow Brook and no student cases.

Four cases of COVID-19 have been reported at Oak Ridge High School, all among students. Three of those are current, and one is recovered, Oak Ridge Schools said in a COVID-19 case dashboard posted on its website.

There are three current cases among students at Robertsville Middle School and two are among students at Jefferson Middle School.

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Poll: Do you think Oak Ridge Schools should require face masks?

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A small group of parents and two school board members on Monday said they support following federal guidance and requiring face masks in Oak Ridge Schools to help keep students, staff, and their families from getting infected with COVID-19 and spreading it. They cited the rising case numbers in Anderson County and Tennessee as the delta variant of the new coronavirus causes new case numbers to surge across the country, driving up hospitalizations and making more younger people sick.

The school system did not make a decision Monday, but school officials said they are watching the COVID-19 case numbers and could make a decision later. The school system required face masks last year but relaxed that requirement when cases declined over many months following the winter peak. Now, cases are trending back up, and it’s not clear how long that could continue.

School officials say they have also heard from parents who object to requiring masks again.

What do you think? Should Oak Ridge Schools require face masks in schools to help prevent the spread of COVID-19?

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After early summer lows, COVID case, positivity rates continue to climb

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The chart above shows new COVID-19 cases per day in Anderson County in June, July, and early August. (Chart by Oak Ridge Today using Tennessee Department of Health data and Flourish for chart production).

There were 33 days in June and July when Anderson County reported either no new cases of COVID-19 or one. But that changed around July 12. The average number of new cases reported in Anderson County each day has steadily climbed, and the county is now reporting between 12 and 32 new cases per day.

That is still significantly below the winter peak in December and January, when the new daily case average was more than 100, with peaks over 200 new cases per day.

However, it’s not clear when the current increase in cases might slow down or end. Medical workers and health and government officials are warning about the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, especially among the unvaccinated, and they are urging people to get vaccinated. Cases have surged in parts of the United States, including Tennessee and several other states in the Southeast.

On Sunday, the seven-day average of new cases in Anderson County was 18.4, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. That was up from 13.1 on Wednesday, four days earlier. The low point was a seven-day average of 0.4 new cases per day reported July 6.

The longer trend of new cases, a two-week average, was 13.6 on Sunday. That was more than four times as high as the previous two-week average of 3.0.

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UT to require masks indoors

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The University of Tennessee will require face masks indoors this fall semester.

Masks will be required in classrooms, laboratories, other places of instruction, and any indoor events that students are required to attend, UT said in a press release Monday.

The university may be the first school in the area to announce a mask requirement as the delta variant of the new coronavirus spreads in Tennessee and across the United States. Masks are not currently required in Oak Ridge Schools.

In the press release, UT System President Randy Boyd urged students, faculty, and staff members to talk with their families and healthcare providers about the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.

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About 43 percent vaccinated in Anderson County

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The charts above show total COVID-19 vaccines in Anderson County and new vaccines by day; total vaccine recipients and new recipients by day; and the total number of fully vaccinated people and number of new fully vaccinated people by day. (Charts by Oak Ridge Today using Tennessee Department of Health data and Flourish for chart production).

After more than seven months, about 43 percent of people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Anderson County–lower than the national average–and the number of daily vaccinations remains far below the peak this spring, according to state data.

The largest increase in vaccinations in Anderson County was between about late February and mid-May. There were eight days with about 900 vaccinations or more during that time period and three days in April with more than 1,000 vaccinations, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Health. The peak was 1,256 vaccinations on April 10.

Now, though, vaccinations are in the range of about 100 per day, with all peaks below 200. At that rate, it could take months, maybe more than a year, to approach a vaccination rate of 70 percent or higher.

The number of new vaccine recipients can vary widely each day, but there does appear to be an increase in the number of new recipients as the new daily case rate rises again in Anderson County.

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COVID case, positivity rates rising as school resumes

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A daily snapshot of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, includes, among other information, the daily number of new cases and the daily positivity rate. (Graphic by Tennessee Department of Health)

Note: This story was updated at 12:15 p.m. July 28.

The COVID-19 case and positivity rates are rising in Anderson County as school resumes in Oak Ridge. More than 100 new COVID-19 cases, four hospitalizations, and three deaths have been reported since mid-July. The positivity rate, a measure of how many COVID-19 tests are positive each day, is about 10 percent, which exceeds World Health Organization guidelines.

Cases in Tennessee have surged from a low of a few hundred new cases per day about a month ago to roughly 2,100 new cases on Tuesday. Current hospitalizations across the state have climbed from a low of a few hundred to 762. Fifty-one hospitalizations were reported Tuesday.

In the past two weeks, the rate of new COVID-19 cases per day in Anderson County has steadily climbed from a low of about one new case per day in Anderson County to 7.6 new cases per day. The county reported 112 new cases of COVID-19 between Monday, July 12, and Tuesday, July 27, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Health. (See also here and here.)

There were 74 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the week between Tuesday, July 20, and Monday, July 26. That’s an average of about 10.6 new cases per day. The one-week average of 10.6 new cases per day was higher than the 14-day case average of 7.6 reported by the state.

Two new deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in Anderson County on Monday, although that doesn’t necessarily mean the deaths occurred Monday because the state reporting can lag a few days behind when the deaths occurred.

Also in the last two weeks, the positivity rate has climbed from about 2.3 percent on Monday, July 12, to 9.3 percent on Tuesday, July 27. The WHO has recommended a positivity rate below 5 percent.

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COVID cases still low but rising again

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A daily snapshot of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County on Monday, July 19, 2021, includes, among other information, the daily number of new cases and the daily positivity rate. (Graphic by Tennessee Department of Health)

The number of new cases of COVID-19 remains low in Anderson County, but the rate of new cases per day is rising again. Also, the positivity rate has climbed back over 5 percent, and there have been four new hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in the past week.

About a week ago, the number of new cases per day was at about one. That was the lowest it had been since cases first started rising more than a year ago, before the first COVID-19 case peak in July 2020. The case average has been low for weeks after a slow decline starting in January.

In the past week, however, the new daily case rate has slowly climbed again. In the past two weeks, Anderson County has averaged three new cases of COVID-19 per day, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. That is up from an average of 1.1 in the prior 14 days.

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COVID positivity rates high in Anderson, surrounding counties

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COVID-19 data for Anderson County as reported by the Tennessee Department of Health on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. (Image courtesy Tennessee Department of Health)

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.

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