Dyer County COVID-19 update for December 8

BRANDON HUTCHESON

bhutcheson@stategazette.com

With the release of the Tennessee Department of Health’s (TDH) daily COVID-19 update on Tuesday, the department reported Dyer County as having a total of 3,454 COVID-19 cases, which consist of confirmed and probable cases. Additionally, the TDH said that Dyer County had 221 active cases with 3,179 recoveries/inactive cases.

The total number of deaths due to the virus remained increased to 54.

TDH also reported Dyer County as having 3,015 PCR positive cases and 16,859 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 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, the numbers reflected were those from the previous day, Dec. 7.

Dyer County was listed as having 82 COVID-19 related hospitalizations. New active cases from Dec. 6 to Dec. 7 increased by 40.

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

- Most recent 7 days (Dec. 1, 2020 – Dec. 7, 2020)

177 case count; 68 daily case rate (per 100,000 residents)

- Most recent 14 days (Nov. 24, 2020 – Dec. 7, 2020)

345 case count; 66.3 daily case rate (per 100,000 residents)

- Previous 14 days (Nov. 10, 2020 – Nov. 23, 2020)

438 case count; 84.2 daily case rate (per 100,000 residents)

- Total (March 5, 2020 – Dec. 7, 2020)

3,431 case count; 33.3 daily case rate (per 100,000 residents)

Additionally, the website reported Dyer County has averaged 60.86 tests per day (163.8 tests per 100,000 residents) over the past 7 days.

The average positive percentage of tests, over the most recent 7 days, was 24.9 percent.

TDH COVID-19 numbers in Tennessee:

Statewide, on Tuesday, Tennessee was reported having 414,749 total cases, with 378,656 confirmed and 36,093 probable. Recoveries/Inactive cases were listed at 371,163 (89 percent).

Total deaths in the state were reported at 5,109 (1 percent), with 4,636 confirmed and 473 probable.

Under laboratory testing, the results were as follows:

- Test Type: PCR

443,794 positive; 4,285,324 negative; 4,729,118 total

- Test Type: Antigen

37,687 positive; 335,475 negative; 373,162 total

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

- 12,777 hospitalizations (3 percent)

- 187,505 not hospitalized (45 percent)

- 214,467 pending (52 percent)

Shelby County (Memphis) continued to lead the state in total COVID-19 cases with 52,068, while Davidson County (Nashville) is second, with 46,929.

Other Tennessee counties that have surpassed the 10,000 total case mark are Knox (Knoxville) at 22,084, Rutherford (Murfreesboro) at 20,346, Hamilton (Chattanooga) at 19,417, Williamson (Franklin) at 12,804, and Sumner (Hendersonville/Gallatin) at 11,380.

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

Crockett: 1,245 total; 79 active; 1,137 recoveries/inactive; 29 deaths

Gibson: 3,661 total; 371 active; 3,217 recoveries/inactive; 73 deaths

Lake: 1,244 total; 61 active; 1,175 recoveries/inactive; 8 deaths

Lauderdale: 2,185 total; 95 active; 2,067 recoveries/inactive; 23 deaths

Obion: 2,917 total; 227 active; 2,633 recoveries/inactive; 57 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: 11 new cases this week; 8 new cases last week

Staff: <5 new cases this week; <5 new cases 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 – No reported data this week; <5 new cases last week; Staff – No reported data this week; <5 new cases last week

Dyersburg Middle School: Students – No reported data this week; 0 new cases last week; Staff – No reported data this week; 0 new cases last week

Dyersburg Intermediate School: Students – No reported data this week; <5 new cases last week; Staff – No reported data this week; 0 new cases last week

Dyersburg Primary School: Students – No reported data this week; 0 new cases last week; Staff – No reported data this week; 0new 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/.