KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – The Knox County Health Department has now reported nine COVID-19 deaths in the first week of November, according to data released Saturday.
The Health Department reported two new deaths and 133 new COVID-19 cases and the active case count is now at 1,432.
The inactive case count jumped to 13,161 after 126 new inactive cases were reported.
KCHD has reported 115 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began in March, 110 of which have happened since July 2. The department reported 19 deaths in August, 26 in September and 21 in October. Nine deaths have been reported so far in November.
Of the 13,978 total confirmed Knox County cases reported since the pandemic began, 498 of them have resulted in hospitalization at any point during their illness. There are 72 Knox County residents currently hospitalized due to COVID-19.
There are 730 probable cases listed on the Health Department dashboard.
Beginning Sept. 4, KCHD started reporting “inactive” cases instead of “recovered” cases. Inactive cases include those who are 14 days or more beyond their illness onset date or, for asymptomatic cases, their specimen collection date. This is in alignment with the Tennessee Department of Health.
The change led to nearly 1,000 cases being deemed inactive on Sept. 5. The Health Department also changed how data was categorized based on where cases live. The change led to a decrease of 560 active cases in one day.
On Oct. 1, Charity Menefee, director of communicable and environmental disease and emergency preparedness of the KCHD, said a discrepancy between the Tennessee Department of Health’s use of geocoded, or permanent address, data and KCHD’s jurisdictional data, coupled with a general lag in test collection and reporting identified more than 500 cases as positive after the 14-day active period.
KCHD updates its numbers daily at 11 a.m. Visit covid.knoxcountytn.gov for more information. Press briefings by the Knox County Health Department are on Tuesday and Thursday. Briefings begin at 12:30 p.m.
Knox County Health Department COVID-19 testing is held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at 140 Dameron Ave.
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