After five hours or so of meetings last night, it would be a good moment for the news to slow down. Unfortunately, a moment without a new cause for alarm seems so 2019, doesn’t it? We’re all exhausted from the torrent of news, the outrage, and the struggle just to live our daily lives. Take care of yourself. Step away from the news, if you need to and can do so. And know that others are stressed, worried and angry for probably legitimate reasons. If we ever needed to share grace, it is now.
International News:
13,742,772 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed and confirmed around the world. About 8.2 million people have recovered, while 588,010 have died. Roughly 5 million cases are currently active. Yesterday another 234,383 cases were added. The rate of increase is accelerating, with the seven-day moving average rising by about three thousand from yesterday to a daily average of 217,833 cases.
5,760 deaths from COVID-19 were reported yesterday. The number is the highest total for a single day since June 16. The seven-day average for daily deaths across the world is 4,992, the highest that average has been since May 12. After a steep decline in deaths from late April into late May, deaths have slowly increased since.
Over sixty percent of the new cases for the day, yesterday, were, as on previous days contributed by the three countries at the top: the U.S. (71,750), Brazil (39,705) and India (32,682). The only other country with over 10,000 new cases for the day was South Africa with 12,757. Twenty-four countries reported at least 1,000 new cases. One country of concern, which is rising on the list is Israel, which had gotten their daily average as low as 13 new cases in late May. Their current number of average daily cases is 1,519.
Just so the drama quotient remains high enough for the world, it appears the Russians are trying to steal vaccine data. In one of the first such large examinations of deaths, Italy’s health institute as determined that 89% of the deaths among people who died with COVID-19, died of COVID-19. It’s a distinction that some groups have raised as an issue in saying deaths from the illness are inflated. Also interesting, they found that in just over 28% of the deaths, there was no other illness present.
National News:
3,642,302 Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Of these, 140,452 have died, just over 1.6 million have recovered and about 1.9 million remain active. Yesterday, the U.S. reported new 71,750 cases and 1,001 new deaths. The new case total is the second highest number of new cases reported for a single day since the pandemic began. The high number was set last Friday. The average number of daily cases increased by about 1,500 over yesterday to a new pandemic high of 65,107 new cases per day.
Deaths are also increasing. Yesterday was the first day the U.S. has reported more than 1,000 deaths in a single day since June 9. Average daily deaths bottomed out at 515 deaths per day on July 5 and now sits at an average of 760 deaths per day. That still remains well off its pandemic high of 2,254 set on April 21.
The number of states reporting over 1,000 new cases per day sat around three-to-five when I started. Yesterday that number swelled to seventeen. Seven states had multiple thousands: Texas (12,235), Florida (10,181), California (9,687), Georgia (3,871), Arizona (3,257), Tennessee (2,273) and Louisiana (2,082). In addition to the five southeastern states in the top seven, others near the top include South Carolina (#8), North Carolina (#9), Alabama (#10), Virginia (#13) and Mississippi (#16).
In related news, COVID-19 data has disappeared from the CDC website. After moving to Jacksonsville from Charlotte because the North Carolina Governor would not allow thousands of unmasked convention-goers to gather in his city, reality has struck in the new location and plans for the Republican Convention are being changed and scaled down. Governor Kemp in Georgia has overruled local governments which had put mask mandates in place, saying they cannot impose rules that are any more strict than those he has put into place. In a rare political move, a Republican Governor has written an op-ed in a conservative newspaper expressing frustration with the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic.
In other news, a number of athletes have been reported as testing positive. In Gainesville, the University of Florida reports that the 29 athletes who have tested positive, have now been joined by Athletic Director Scott Strickland, who has reportedly recovered. The current Miss Alabama and her mother are now quarantined after testing positive. ESPN is reporting this morning that 72 NFL players have tested positive. Oklahoma Governor Stitt has become the first governor to test positive. He expressed shock, yet photos have been published of him out with his family during the pandemic and waving to the crowd at President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, unmasked and surrounded by others with no masks. He continues to decline to require masks in Oklahoma.
State and Local News:
2,273 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Tennessee, yesterday, bringing the pandemic total to 69,061. 1,585 recoveries were reported yesterday and 16 deaths. The net increase for the day added 672 cases to the active case total of 28,421. Total deaths have now reached 783 in the state.
An additional 56 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized yesterday, bringing the current number to 984 hospitalized across the state. There are another 432 patients who are counted as “pending.” A total of 3,434 people have been hospitalized since the beginning of the pandemic, meaning almost 30% of the total are hospitalized at this time.
Testing continues at very high numbers, and yet, positive test result numbers continue to rise, with the current average number sitting at 8.9% positive. The goal is for that number to be below 5% for 14 consecutive days. About 26,000 tests were completed yesterday, for a total of about 1.1 million since the beginning of the pandemic.
Deaths also continue to increase across the state. The sixteen reported yesterday continues the trend of increases. Average numbers of daily deaths never crossed ten in Tennessee until July 8. It now sits at an average of 14 deaths per day.
Locally, there is a lot of news. So much so that I’ve published two articles since yesterday’s COVID-19 update. If you’ve missed them, you can click here to read about the School Board Meeting and their plan to re-open or here to read about the Board of Health Meeting last night. Both groups took some action. One chart that I want to re-post here shows characteristics of the people who have died with the illness at U.T. Hospital. Dr. Shamiyeh compiled the list and brought it to the meeting last night and I think it gets at some of the information readers have requested. Note the ages and also how the time between deaths have shortened.
Today, the health department is reporting an additional 92 Knox County residents have tested positive, bringing the total to 1,906 since the beginning of the pandemic. The graph of daily cases below shows 91, but that is an error. We’ve had more than 90 cases four different days since the beginning of the pandemic and all of them have fallen in the last twelve days. The high of 118 was reported two days ago.
An additional 30 people are now counted as recovered, bringing that number to 923. The number of active cases increased by 60 to 966. Two weeks ago today, the number of active cases in the county was 323, meaning we have nearly tripled our active case load in the last two weeks. There are 82 probable cases, up from 72 yesterday.
There are 47 Knox County residents currently hospitalized, up from 45 yesterday. Two weeks ago, that total was 18, which means we have 2 1/2 times the number of hospitalized patients we had two weeks ago. Additionally, two people died overnight, to bring our total deaths to 17. Two weeks ago today, that total was 6. Total deaths have almost tripled in two weeks. Taken another way, there were five deaths in the first 3 1/2 months and we’ve had an additional 12 in just over two weeks.
Also of note locally, Oak Ridge High School had to close its summer band camp when an instructor tested positive for COVID-19. He was in contact with band members and staff who have been encouraged to consult their physicians. Potentially contaminate portions of the buildings were also closed and will remain so for a minimum of “two to five days.”