Reported COVID-19 cases increasing in area

Donna Smith, Oakridger
·2 min read

The number of Anderson County residents infected with COVID-19, as well as the number of infected patients at the local hospital rose over the past week.

Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, as well as other Covenant Health hospitals in the area, are posting information on COVID-19 patients on a dashboard. The MMC dashboard is updated on the hospital's website and on its Facebook page around noon Monday through Friday.

An example of a COVID-19 at-home test.
An example of a COVID-19 at-home test.

The dashboard for Thursday showed 32 confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations at MMC, and five more cases are listed as "suspected" of being from the novel coronavirus.

Although the number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital's intensive care unit is not given on the dashboard, it does state that 80% of the ICU patients with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

Across the hospital, in the ICU and other floors, 63% of the patients with COVID-19 were unvaccinated, according to the dashboard information.

On Jan. 19, the dashboard showed 28 patients at the local hospital were confirmed to have COVID-19, and two more were suspected of having the coronavirus.

The median age of the hospitalized COVID-19 patients at MMC on Thursday was 68.

Oak Ridge Schools

On Friday morning, the Oak Ridge Schools' Case Count Dashboard showed active cases of COVID-19 among 58 students and 11 employees. The active student cases were at: Oak Ridge Schools Preschool, 4; Glenwood Elementary, 10; Linden Elementary, 8; Willow Brook Elementary, 3; Woodland Elementary, 6; Jefferson Middle, 12; Robertsville Middle, 6; Oak Ridge High, 8; and Secret City Academy, 1. Active employee cases were at Glenwood, Linden, Robertsville, OREHS and Secret City Academy, with 2 each, and 1 at Jefferson.

On Jan.19, the Dashboard showed active cases among 49 students and eight employees.

Tennessee Department of Health

Wednesday's weekly update from the Tennessee Department of Health shows 2,502 active cases in Anderson County The death total of 284 indicates six residents have died of COVID-19 in the past week. The prior week's active cases were 1,909.

In Roane County, the number of active cases was listed at 1,743 active cases and 196 deaths. The death total is five more than the previous week. The prior week's active cases totaled 1,301.

In Morgan County, there were 598 active cases and 64 deaths listed, indicating an additional death since the previous week when 349 active cases were reported.

Tennesseans have been cautioned about comparing the statistics on a week-to-week basis because of a backlog and the holidays in December and Martin Luther King Jr. Day this month. However, the statistics are accurate.

Across Tennessee, there were approximately 65 deaths from COVID-19 per day last week for a total of 21,158. The dashboard shows there were approximately 16,968 active cases per day for a total of 1.77 million. Hospitalizations across the state from the coronavirus totaled 3,158.

Donna Smith can be contacted at (865) 220-5514 or by email at dsmith@oakridger.com. Follow her on Twitter @ridgernewsed.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Reported COVID-19 cases increasing in area