The Shelby County Health Department is vaccinating funeral home and mortuary employees as well as people 75 and older when there is availability, officials said Saturday, Jan. 2.

Shelby County’s updated vaccination schedule

In a statement released Saturday, health department officials said all appointments for Saturday and Sunday at the drive-thru vaccination locations have now been filled and none are available.

“We will announce early next week when and where drive-thru vaccination will resume for 1a1 groups, funeral/mortuary workers, and the 75+ population,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, for the second time since the pandemic hit, the health department reported more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day.

The Health Department reported 1,020 additional coronavirus cases and 11 more virus-related deaths on Saturday, Jan. 2.

The 1,020 coronavirus cases reported Saturday came from 5,933 test results, yielding a 17.2% positivity rate. Test results, however, are not reflective of the previous 24-hour period and include tests over multiple days.

On Dec. 17, the Health Department reported 1,163 new COVID-19 cases, that remains the highest daily increase to date. Since March, the Health Department has reported 68,820 total coronavirus cases and 914 deaths, classifying 61,027 cases as inactive/recovered.

Active cases in Shelby County stand at 6,879, an increase from the 6,472 reported Friday. A total of 833,952 coronavirus tests have been performed in Shelby County, yielding an 9% positivity rate.

State to begin vaccinating elderly next month

There were 586 COVID-19 patients in Memphis-area hospitals as of 5 p.m. Thursday, the latest data available, according to Tennessee’s Healthcare Resource Tracking System. The Health Department will provide weekend hospital data in its Monday update.

Hospital capacity for ICU beds is at 95% use, and acute care beds are at 88% occupancy. The number of area ICU beds available is 24 with 287 acute care beds open. Bed capacity is calculated by subtracting beds occupied by patients, unstaffed beds and beds that are otherwise unavailable.

Of the 586 people hospitalized, 157 are in intensive care unit staffed beds with 429 in acute care staffed beds.

Those who are COVID-positive or suspected of having the virus represent 40% of ICU patients and 24% of acute care patients.

As of Jan. 1, 126,887 coronavirus vaccines were reported administered in Tennessee, including 1.17% of Shelby Countians who have received their first of two coronavirus vaccine doses, according to state data. The state plans to update the dashboard on Tuesdays and Fridays.