KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – The Knox County Health Department reported over 100 new active COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as hospitalizations in the county dipped.
Knox County reported no new deaths and 103 new cases on Tuesday, a 0.82% increase in the total case count. Health officials reported 1,525 active cases, 108 more than reported on Monday.
Three new inactive cases were also reported. A total of 11,713 cases are considered inactive.
KCHD has reported 101 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began, 96 of which have come since July 2. The department reported 19 deaths in August, 26 in September, and 16 in October. The 100th COVID-19 death in Knox County was reported on Sunday.
Of the 12,723 total confirmed Knox County cases reported since the pandemic began, 456 of them have resulted in hospitalization at any point during their illness. There are 67 Knox County residents currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, nine fewer than reported Monday.
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.
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