Dyer County COVID-19 update for October 26

BRANDON HUTCHESON

bhutcheson@stategazette.com

With the release of the Tennessee Department of Health’s (TDH) daily COVID-19 update on Monday, the department reported Dyer County as having a total of 2,247 COVID-19 cases, which consist of confirmed and probable cases. Additionally, the TDH said that Dyer County had 359 active cases with 1,856 recoveries/inactive cases.

The total number of deaths due to the virus increased over the weekend to 32.

TDH also reported Dyer County as having 2,247 PCR positive cases and 14,304 PCR negative cases.

TDH COVID-19 Dyer County Data Dashboard:

Recently, the TDH launched a new COVID-19 website, https://covid19.tn.gov, which helps streamline and simplify some of the most frequently requested COVID-19 data. The site, which can be accessed for both desktop and mobile users, offers dashboards and daily reports with state and county-level information including case counts, hospitalizations and tests conducted.

As of 2:20 p.m. Monday afternoon, the numbers on the website reflected those from the previous day, Oct 25. The information was listed as follows:

Dyer County was listed as having 73 COVID-19 related hospitalizations. New active cases from Oct. 24 to Oct. 25 increased by 48.

The website also lists case counts and daily case rates from the following time periods:

- Most recent 7 days (Oct. 19, 2020 – Oct. 25, 2020)

242 case count; 93 daily case rate (per 100,000 residents)

- Most recent 14 days (Oct. 12, 2020 – Oct. 25, 2020)

501 case count; 96.3 daily case rate (per 100,000 residents)

- Previous 14 days (Sep. 28, 2020 – Oct. 11, 2020)

349 case count; 67.1 daily case rate (per 100,000 residents)

- Total (March 5, 2020 – Oct. 25, 2020)

2,237 case count; 25.7 daily case rate (per 100,000 residents)

Additionally, the website reported Dyer County has averaged 116.7 tests per day (314.1 tests per 100,000 residents) over the past 7 days (Oct. 15 – Oct. 21, 2020).

The average positive percentage of tests, over the most recent 7 days, was 24.1 percent.

TDH COVID-19 numbers in Tennessee:

Statewide, on Monday, Tennessee was reported having 249,866 total cases, with 236,518 confirmed and 13,348 probable. Recoveries/Inactive cases were listed at 219,230 (88 percent).

Total deaths in the state were reported at 3,163 (1 percent), with 2,999 confirmed and 164 probable.

Under laboratory testing, the results were as follows:

- Test Type: PCR

285,275 positive; 3,270,812 negative; 3,556,087 total

- Test Type: Antigen

12,548 positive; 81,804 negative; 94,352 total

Tennessee COVID-19 hospitalizations listed by the TDH on Monday was as follows:

- 9,985 hospitalizations (4 percent)

- 146,003 not hospitalized (58 percent)

- 93,878 pending (38 percent)

Shelby County (Memphis) continued to lead the state in total COVID-19 cases with 36,685, while Davidson County (Nashville) is second, with 31,975.

Other Tennessee counties that have surpassed the 10,000 total case mark are Knox (Knoxville) at 12,848, Rutherford (Murfreesboro) at 12,017, and Hamilton (Chattanooga) at 11,867.

In the counties neighboring Dyer County, the TDH reported the following results:

Crockett: 870 total; 143 active; 707 recoveries/inactive; 20 deaths

Gibson: 2,172 total; 160 active; 1,968 recoveries/inactive; 44 deaths

Lake: 987 total; 32 active; 952 recoveries/inactive; 3 deaths

Lauderdale: 1,441 total; 219 active; 1,205 recoveries/inactive; 17 deaths

Obion: 1,795 total; 199 active; 1,574 recoveries/inactive; 22 deaths

The Tennessee Department of Health provides daily COVID-19 updates online at www.tn.gov/health at 2 p.m. The COVID-19 Public Information Numbers, 877-857-2945 or 833-556-2476, are available from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

TDOE Data Dashboard:

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) Data Dashboard listed results for both Dyer County and Dyersburg City school systems and were as follows:

Students: 12 new cases this week; 8 last week

Staff: <5 new cases this week; <5 last week

For Dyer County, individual school information was not available.

For Dyersburg City Schools, individual school information was available and was listed as follows:

Dyersburg High School: Students – <5 new cases this week; <5 new cases last week; Staff – <5 new cases this week; <5 new cases last week

Dyersburg Middle School: Students - <5 new cases this week; <5 new cases last week; Staff – <5 new cases this week; <5 new cases last week

Dyersburg Intermediate School: Students – 0 new cases this week; 0 new cases last week; Staff - 0 new cases this week; <5 new cases last week

Dyersburg Primary School: Students – 0 new cases this week; <5 new cases last week; Staff – <5 new cases this week; <5 new cases last week

The TDOE included the following statement in regard to the numbers reported by the data dashboard:

“The data presented on this page reflects new positive COVID-19 cases for students and employees at public elementary and secondary schools, including public charter schools, in Tennessee. This data is self-reported by school districts and public charter schools to the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) on a weekly basis. TDOE cannot verify and makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the data presented. This data is provisional and subject to change. This data may be different than information reported by a school, district, or other entity due to timing of reporting or other factors. In addition, this data may be different than county-level information reported by the Tennessee Department of Health due to timing of reporting, the fact that positive cases are reported by TDH only after laboratory confirmation, or other factors. School districts and public charter schools are requested to report positive COVID-19 cases to TDOE but are not mandated to do so by law or regulation. COVID-19 case investigations are conducted by local health departments.

“To protect individual privacy, schools with fewer than 50 students are not reported in this data. Further, for schools reporting a number that is fewer than five positive student or employee COVID-19 cases, the school will be listed without a specific number of cases for the category. Decisions regarding reporting this data balance transparency, public health and individual privacy and may change as circumstances change.

“New cases represent the number of newly reported positive cases on the most recent reporting date. Inactive cases are not reported. Data reported herein does not indicate or imply that a positive COVID-19 case was contracted at the school facility.”

The release added TDOE is requesting districts to submit information on a weekly basis and reporting across every district in the state is expected by September 22.

The link to the TDOE dashboard can be viewed at https://districtinformation.tnedu.gov/.