On Monday, Tipton County’s total confirmed cases of COVID-19 reached 605.
Last week, county officials said numbers are “exploding” and transmission has increased in the Covington area. Many of the previous cases were in South Tipton.
There are currently 132 active cases.
Since June 1, the number of confirmed cases has grown by 153, which is an average of 5.27 cases per day. Prior to the prison outbreak two months ago, Tipton County was seeing an average of 2.5 cases per day.
The number of tests conducted has increased and also includes subsequent testing for patients who’ve tested positive.
Tipton County remains third in West Tennessee for confirmed cases, coming in behind Shelby County and Lake County, where a prison outbreak has confirmed cases totaling 691 to date. Lake County’s population is fewer than 8,000 people.
Across the state, the day-over-day percentage of new confirmed cases is increasing.
Gov. Bill Lee extended the state of emergency until Aug. 29 and Tennesseans were encouraged to continue with precautions like limiting activity, social distancing, wearing face masks and avoiding large gatherings, for example.
Executive Order No. 50 includes a comprehensive list of provisions which include limits on social and recreational gatherings, contact sports, visitation at nursing homes and long-term care facilities. The order also allows for continued take-out alcohol sales, remote/telework, telehealth, flexibility for licensing of medical professionals and more. A full list can be found here.
It’s not yet clear how the extension of the state of emergency will affect plans for the school year, including high school football.
Gov. Lee also signed Executive Order Nos. 51 and 52, which extend provisions that allow for electronic government meetings subject to transparency safeguards and remote notarization and witnessing of documents, respectively, to Aug. 29.
Covington has already announced plans to continue virtual meetings.
Author: Echo Day
Echo Day is an award-winning journalist, photographer and designer. She is currently The Leader's managing editor.
