COVID-19 infections continued to spread quickly throughout Tennessee last week, though increases in related hospitalizations slowed, newly released state data show.
As of Saturday, the seven-day average for statewide infections was 1,500, a 16.5% increase from the prior week’s 1,288 and nearly a three-fold increase in infections compared to one month ago. In Davidson County, the seven-day average for infections was 200.4, a decline from the previous week’s 206.7 average.
The number of hospitalized Tennesseans with COVID-19 was 273 as of May 28, barely a change from the prior week’s 270 such cases. Of those, 45 were receiving treatment in intensive-care units, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
Tennessee’s seven-day average test-positivity rate (the rate of people who have been tested and are positive for COVID-19) was 15.27%, up from the previous week’s 13.52%, suggesting that infections continue to spread more quickly from week to week.
In Davidson County, the test-positivity rate was 18.5%, a drop from the previous week’s 20.1% rate.
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State public health agencies have counted more than 2.06 million cases of COVID-19 in Tennessee since the start of the pandemic. Of those, 26,477 have died as a result of the novel coronavirus.
About 54.8% of Tennesseans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The national average is 66.7%.
Frank Gluck is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at fgluck@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FrankGluck.
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