NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – The Tennessee Department of Health has confirmed additional cases and deaths related to COVID-19 across the state for Wednesday, January 20.
The department reported 4,483 new cases, putting the state at 694,291 total cases. Of the total cases, 593,314 are confirmed and 100,977 are probable.
There are currently 52,307 active COVID-19 cases in the state.
Tennessee’s seven-day new cases average is currently 4,113 additional cases per day, while the 14-day new cases average is 4,932.
TDH confirmed 86 additional deaths, bringing the state up to 8,556 total deaths. Tennessee is averaging 82 deaths per day during the month of January so far.
Out of the total positive cases, 633,428 are listed as inactive/recovered, an increase of 9,122 in the last 24 hours.
The state reported 2,653 people are currently hospitalized in Tennessee due to COVID-19. ICU Bed availability is at 8% with only 168 beds available. The number of total COVID hospitalizations now sits at 16,233.
Tennessee has processed 6,078,484 tests with 5,384,193 negative results. The percentage of positive cases remains around 11.4%. Wednesday’s update added 21,951 tests to the state’s total with 13.92% percent positive cases.
Last week, Tennessee reported 651 COVID-19 deaths. The week of January 10 is now the second deadliest week of the pandemic. During the week of January 3, the state reported 734 additional deaths. The state has now seen the two deadliest weeks of the pandemic this month.
Vaccine Tracker
TDH released its latest COVID-19 vaccination report on Tuesday. The state’s vaccine dashboard shows 370,895 vaccinations have been given out so far in Tennessee.
Tennessee county health departments are now booking appointments online for people 75 years and older who wish to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Appointments for Tennesseans eligible under the Phase 1 rollout of the vaccine can sign up for an appointment online.
And to see what the vaccine availability is in your county, click here.
Mass COVID-19 vaccination sites are popping up across the country but not here in Tennessee. Places like Nissan Stadium in Nashville will not be used as a mass vaccination super site, at least for now. The Tennessee Department of Health said mass vaccination centers are not on its radar at this time. The Metro Nashville Public Health Department told News 2 large venues could cause huge crowds and become super spreader events if not managed properly.
In a letter written before Christmas, Amazon urged Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to allow its 25,000 frontline workers in the state to be vaccinated as soon as possible. The company said Amazon employees in warehouses and grocery stores have been helping people receive essential items since the beginning of the pandemic.
COVID-19 in Tennessee
On Tuesday, Governor Bill Lee extended an executive order, which added additional restrictions on who may attend sporting events in the state.
The governor also addressed lawmakers on Tuesday at the start of a special session on education in the Tennessee legislature. Lee had two main points: he said schools that are still closed for in-person learning need to open immediately and he asked lawmakers to allocate funding to help students recover from significant learning loss.
A more contagious strain of COVID-19 could sweep through the country and become the dominant variant of the virus by March, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
COVID-19 in Nashville
Earlier Wednesday, Metro Public Health Department officials reported an increase of 248 COVID-19 cases in Davidson County.
Metro Schools will continue to hold all classes in the virtual environment stating the decision to continue online classes is due to the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 throughout Nashville and the state of Tennessee.
While MNPS say their COVID-19 Risk Score remains too high to go back, some parents believe the numbers the district should be focusing on are their children’s grades. As of January 7, 18.4 percent of the district was marked as failing.
Last week, the department announced “a new initiative to ensure no doses of COVID-19 vaccine are wasted” by implementing a standby list that went into effect on Tuesday. If you are interested in participating in the Standby List, you’re asked to email the health department at COVID19VaccineStandby@nashville.gov each day the standby list is operational.
