Rates of New COVID-19 Cases Continue to Rise in NETN

I know we are all anxiously watching the line for the 14 day average of new cases per 100,000 county residents as we come closer to the start of the school year. Today the rates are as follows:

Carter: 8.94
Sullivan: 8.92
Washington: 10.53!

Nine or more cases tomorrow will officially put Washington County in the Red Zone for school openings. (See my sidebar for school opening plans.)

New Cases Per Day

Current Active Cases

And for some context, here are the cumulative cases with active:

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Tennessee Releases Info on School-Aged COVID-19 Cases

Yesterday, Tennessee released the number of total COVID-19 cases in school-aged children (5-18) by county. This is the first time we've had the ages broken out this way. Previously the state was providing ten year age ranges (0-10 and 11-20). For the NETN region, 9.5% of cases have been school-aged children. This ranges from 0% in Unicoi to 23% of cases in Hancock county. These are total cases and not active. In other regional case news, Washington County had a record-high new cases (51) on July 19 followed by our second highest day on the 20th (40). The trend is similar across the region. But on the bright side, Sullivan County's active cases dropped on Wednesday for the first time since June 16. Granted they went back up one again yesterday, but we'll take the happy news when we can get it right now. The data below is through Thursday, July 23. If you are a parent and reading this, you've probably been following the 14-day rate per 100,000 people charts I've be...

Wear your mask, NETN!

As of Friday, July 17, Sullivan, Washington, Greene, and Carter counties in Northeast Tennessee will all have mask mandates in place. Here's a great video about How Masks Work. I encourage you to watch:

Washington County in the "Red Zone." Now What?

As I expected, Washington County moved into the "red zone" for school openings yesterday. But what does that mean? If it stays this way, will schools go to only remote? Not necessarily... Johnson City Schools has issued an FAQ which addresses this specifically. From the FAQ: Going into “red” or substantial (defined as an average of > 11+new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Washington County residents over the last 14 days) will not automatically mean that schools shutdown and every student will become a remote learner. Local health departments, school officials, city and county leaders cannot focus only on the number of cases and the case rate alone, but should also consider characteristics across four factors to fully determine community risk. These factors include: - Disease epidemiology: Level of community transmission, number and type of outbreaks, impact of the outbreaks on delivery of healthcare or other critical infrastructure or services, and epidemiology in surroundin...

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