A recent article in The Tennessean notes that the Volunteer State is one of seven in the nation that is conducting a sufficient amount of COVID-19 testing, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute. Also, looking at the data for the last two weeks, the increase in the number of active cases is also encouraging, especially over the last week. See the graph below.
The biggest increase in the number of active cases appeared at the beginning of May, when testing conducted at a prison revealed that more than 800 inmates were infected with COVID-19. These are real cases, but those of us fortunate enough not to be incarcerated are not likely to contract the illness from one of the inmates at the prison.
Over the last week, the increase in active cases is 85. People are recovering from COVID-19 almost as fast as new people are becoming infected. This is encouraging news, as the state has been partially re-opened for two weeks now. I hope people in the state continue to take this seriously, wear masks in public, and in general be cautious.
That’s great news for TN, Christian!
On the prison outbreak: Here in Los Angeles County, we have video evidence of inmates trying to get the COVID-19 virus from others. They would share the same water bottle and sniff from a common mask, in the belief that getting sick would get them out of the prison. Eventually, 30 of them succeeded in getting sick: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-11/inmates-inside-la-county-jails-trying-to-intentional-infect-themselves-with-coronavirus-sheriff-says
Wow, that is crazy.
I am impressed that the number of new infections has essentially flatlined. Here in Alabama we had over 300 new cases just in the past 24 hours. We have been averaging around 215 – 220 new cases a day for weeks and there is no sign it is slowing down.
TN is still getting new infections, but the rate is slower than in AL. TN is also tracking recoveries, so you can see that people are recovering almost as fast as other people are getting infected.
Median number of new cases each day in TN is a little over 300 since April 26, but people are recovering almost as rapidly, so the total number of active cases (total confirmed – recovered – deaths) is what is essentially flat lining. TN tracks recoveries, so that can be calculated, unlike AL, which does not.
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