Lewis County Herald - Serving Hohenwald, Lewis County Tennessee Since 1898

Eight hundred and seventy-five people have been reported as having COVID-19 in Lewis County as of Tuesday this week.

The disease proved fatal for 16 Lewis Countians with 87 cases still active. Twenty-eight have been hospitalized and Lewis County has averaged 9.9 new cases reported per day since November 24, according to the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH).

School aged children make up around 14 percent of the county's total case number with 115 being 5-18 years old.

The virus spread the quickest among those who are 51-60 years old over a four week period, jumping from 77 positive cases in November to 118 on Monday.

The White House coronavirus task force periodically releases maps that shows the number of cases per 100k residents in a certain area. Counties and states are rated a Red Zone (new cases were at or above 101 per 100,000 of the population and had a lab test positivity result at or above ten percent), Orange Zone (new cases reported between 51-100 per 100,000 of the population and positive lab results were between eight and ten percent), and Yellow Zone (new cases reported were between 10-50 per 100,000 of the population and positive lab results were between five and eight percent.

In their most recent report, Tennessee as a whole and Lewis County were both in the Red Zone.

Six of the reported deaths came from AHC Lewis County where it was reported that 45 out of 85 residents and 42 staff members had tested positive at one point. According to the last report posted by the TDH, it has now been 16 days since their last positive case.

Residents of long term care facilities have proven to be one of the most vulnerable to the virus as they make up about twenty-nine percent of Tennessee's total deaths. This is also indicative of those who are 61 and older are most affected by the virus.

There are 414,749 total cases and 5,109 total deaths in Tennessee. Those who are 21-50 years of age were half of the total cases, but those who are 61 and older accounted for almost ninety percent of deaths at 4,373.

Of the 400,000 cases, 371,163 have been reported as recovered or inactive.

While women are more susceptible to the virus and made up 53 percent of cases, the virus was more fatal for men accounting for 2,778 of the total deaths.

It is not all bad news though. Out of all the cases reported, only three percent had to be hospitalized and even less resulted in fatalities.