Coronavirus in Tennessee: Knox County reports one new death as hospitalizations drop

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – COVID-19 hospitalizations among Knox County residents dropped Wednesday as health officials reported the fifth death in the month of October.

The Knox County Health Department on Wednesday reported one new death and 64 new active cases of COVID-19, a 0.57% increase in the total case count. There are now 1,214 active cases in Knox County, an net decrease of 63 from Tuesday. The inactive cases total grew by 140 to 10,457.

Of the 11,234 total confirmed cases reported in Knox County since the pandemic began, 401 of them have resulted in hospitalization at any point during their illness. There are 63 Knox County residents currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, down seven from Tuesday.

KCHD has reported 90 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began, 85 of which have come since July 2. The county reported 19 deaths in August, 26 in September and five in October.

The first COVID-19 death in October was reported on Oct. 4.

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.

Knox County Health Department testing is being done this week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at the department’s main office, 140 Dameron Ave. Lines may be cut off prior to 3 p.m. in order to process the tests and get them to the lab in a timely manner.

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.