County Mayor’s Notes – September 3rd, 2020

Today’s updated numbers incorporate corrections to data reporting errors where some positive tests were attributed to incorrect counties due to a mismatch in zip code assignments.  Cumberland County had an increase of 88 new positive cases today, many of which are likely attributed to the adjustment.  I do not know the exact count on the adjustments for Cumberland County, but over 1,700 adjustments were made across the state.  Adding this data to one day of result data does serve to skew certain percentages that are important.  I have no more information concerning this data correction.

I mentioned in earlier newsletters that the Upper Cumberland County Mayors and Executives relayed our concerns to the Governor relating to COVID-19 data released by the State.  We mentioned that we believed the recovered data was lagging behind what is reported.  In other words, we mentioned we should have many more recovered cases than reported.  This in turn means that our number of active cases would be significantly overstated and that our recovered percentage was understated.  The intent was to get accurate data.

The Governor and the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) today released the new state dashboard for COVID-19 data (see link below).  A couple of notes concerning the data.  The recovered time was reduced from 21 days down to 14 days, which is much more accurate.  Recovered time began at the 21 day mark before much was known about the virus.  The data now indicate that most active infections become inactive infections in 10 to 14 days.  Tennessee has decided to use the more conservative number of 14 days to move cases from active to inactive infection.  Recovered cases are also now referred to as inactive/recovered cases.

The TDH is also changing the definition they use for close contact to match the CDC definition.  Tennessee was defining close contact as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 10 minutes.  TDH is now using the CDC standard of close contact as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes.  This change does not affect quarantine or isolation periods.

Finally, the Governor announced that the President has asked states to start the planning process for the distribution of a possible vaccine as early as November.  The state is working on the process, but the Governor noted that taking the vaccine will be a personal choice between and individual and their doctor.

COVID-19 Update (difference from previous day)
The following are the numbers from the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) for Cumberland County as of Thursday, 9/3/2020 at 3:00 PM.  The change from the prior day is in parenthesis.  

217 active cases (-120)
718 recovered (+207)
9 deaths officially reported (+1)
944 positive cases (+88) SEE NOTE ABOVE CONCERNING DATA CORRECTIONS
40 hospitalizations (+0) *
17,933 negative tests (+334)
5.00% cumulative positivity rate (positive cases / positive cases + negative tests)
1.56% of residents have tested positive
0.36% of residents have active cases

These numbers are intended to be a brief summary of the information provided by the Tennessee Department of Health. More detailed information can be found at the online dashboard: https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov.html

* Hospitalization data reflect the cumulative (total) number of cases of Cumberland County residents that were ever hospitalized from COVID-19. It does not reflect the number of people currently hospitalized.  This does not mean the patient was hospitalized in Cumberland County.  It means that a Cumberland County resident was hospitalized at some point.

Health Department Testing and Face Coverings
Masks/face coverings can help to slow the spread by slowing or stopping the droplets that carry the virus.  Free cloth masks are available upon request at the Health Department for those that want one. Stop by Monday through Friday from 8:00 am until 4:30 pm to pick one up for each individual in your household.

The local Health Department (1503 South Main Street) is conducting drive through testing, free of charge, Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM.   No doctor’s order is required, and no appointment is necessary. Anyone can be tested regardless of symptoms.

Thank you for being part of the solution and thank you for the opportunity to serve as your County Mayor.  If you are interested in hearing my thoughts and views on news, events, and activities in Cumberland County, please subscribe to my newsletter, and follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Thank you,

Allen Foster
Cumberland County Mayor
http://allenfoster.net