Coronavirus: Area sees case numbers reminiscent of last March
Air Force veteran Jerry Capooth received a COVID-19 vaccination at the Memphis VA Medical Center in January. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)
The Shelby County Health Department reported 38 new coronavirus cases Thursday, Feb. 18, the lowest number it’s reported since early November.
The area also had two new coronavirus-related deaths reported today.
Shelby County’s new coronavirus total is now 86,644 cases, including 83,058 inactive cases (recoveries), 2,143 active cases and 1,443 deaths.
On Nov. 7, 2020, the Shelby County Health Department reported 17 new cases out of 797 tests, but the day before and after saw new cases of 290 and 376.
However, on March 23, 2020, the area reported 27 new coronavirus cases, with 42 new cases the following day.
Today’s case count comes out of about 600 tests, giving the day a positivity rate of 7.4%.
There were 259 COVID-positive patients in area hospital beds as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, according to the Tennessee Healthcare Resource Tracking System. According to the HRTS, 91% of area intensive care unit and 89% of area acute care beds were in use.
And 33 area ICU and 263 area acute care beds were available.
Bed capacity is calculated by subtracting beds occupied by patients, unstaffed beds and beds that are otherwise unavailable.
The capacity figures are inclusive of all hospital facilities in Shelby, Tipton and Lauderdale counties in Tennessee as well as facilities in Crittenden County, Arkansas, and DeSoto County, Mississippi.
According to the latest Shelby County Health Department data, 73,145 people in Shelby County have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 28,710 people have received both COVID-19 vaccine doses, meaning they are fully vaccinated.
And 101,855 total doses have been administered in Shelby County.
At the present time, Shelby County is vaccinating phase 1a1, 1a2 and those age 70 and up on an appointment-only basis. Slots are currently filled, but people can check online or to call (901) 222-SHOT (7468) to be notified when appointments are available. People can also sign up for the VaxQueue standby list.
As of Wednesday, Tennessee’s reported coronavirus total is 760,303 cases, including 10, 954 deaths, 1,131 current hospitalizations and 729,629 inactive cases (recoveries).
About 6,634,437 million coronavirus tests have been performed in Tennessee.
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coronavirus Breaking newsAllyson Brown
After living in Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi, Louisiana, California and Ohio, Allyson is happy to be home in Memphis. If you take a look by the Houston High School track, you can still catch her name on the leader board. She likes good food, music and sports. If you have a suggestion about one or the other, send it her way. Also, she’s happy to hear your story ideas.
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