Coronavirus: Number of Tennessee tests tops 2 million
13 new Shelby County COVID deaths include 11 added retroactively
A health care worker with Christ Community Health Services tests a patient for COVID-19 at First Baptist Church on Broad Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, June 19, 2020. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian file)
The number of coronavirus tests in Tennessee has topped 2 million, Tennessee Department of Health reported Saturday, Aug. 22. The state reported 26,452 new tests, bringing the total to 2,004,861.
There are 1,239 new cases in the state, for a total of 142,083. The state also reported 14 new deaths, bringing the total to 1,563.
The Shelby County Health Department reported that new information has attributed nearly a dozen recent local deaths to COVID-19, according to a Saturday morning release.
There were 13 new deaths added to the total confirmed deaths in Shelby County related to complications of COVID-19 between Friday and Saturday.
According to the SCHD, only two of those deaths occurred in that time. “(T)he remainder are spread between late June and today,” SCHD officials wrote in a statement.
The development brings the total number of Shelby County residents who have died from the novel coronavirus to 359.
The number of new cases reported on Saturday is 219, coming from 2,294 new tests, resulting in a positivity rate of 9.54%.
At a total of 26,030 cases and 241,197 tests administered in Shelby County, the total positivity for the county is now 10.79%.
There are 22,430 people in Shelby County who have been cleared as having recovered from COVID-19, according to the SCHD. The health department confirms 3,241 people are currently living with the virus.
The SCHD has mandated that 10,078 people in the county remain in quarantine, in accordance with ongoing contact investigations.
The state’s Healthcare Resource Tracking System shows falling numbers in regional ICU utilization. As of 5 p.m. on Friday, 86% of ICU capacity was full, with 59 available beds.
However, acute care centers are at 91% capacity.
The data shared with the SCHD by the state reflects hospital numbers in Shelby, Lauderdale and Tipton counties in Tennessee, DeSoto County in Mississippi and Crittenden County in Arkansas.
The number of Tennesseans tested for coronavirus has topped 2 million, Tennessee Department of Health reported Saturday, Aug. 22. The state reported 26,452 new tests, bringing the total to 2,004,861.
There are 1,239 new cases in the state, for a total of 142,083. The state also reported 14 new deaths, bringing the total to 1,563.
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coronavirus COVID-19 Shelby County Health Department Tennessee Department of Health coronavirus cases coronavirus deaths
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