New Cases Slow, Fewer Than 8,000 in Quarantine

New Cases Slow, Fewer Than 8,000 in Quarantine

New virus case numbers slid slightly Thursday from a three-day increase likely attributed to transmissions during the Labor Day weekend holiday nearly two weeks ago.

New cases counts from Thursday were 160. The figure is higher than most counts last week but down from case counts on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Wednesday’s new case count was 293, the highest that figure has been in many weeks.

Total current active cases of the virus slipped, too, to 1,567, down 32 cases from the 1,599 recorded yesterday. That figure had dipped to 1,399 recently.

The new testing figures remain high. The Shelby County Health Department now reports the total number of tests given, not just how many individuals have been tested. The figure rose from 413,586 tests given as of yesterday morning to 416,920 on Friday morning, a difference of 3,334.

The new reporting process changed the weekly positivity rates going back to March, in many cases the figures were reduced. For example, in July’s height of the pandemic (so far), the positivity rate on tests was around 16 percent. With the new testing reporting process, the figure was reduced to 12 percent in numbers released by the health department.

The latest weekly positivity rate rose slightly from the week before. This figure enjoyed weeks of declines following the county mask mandate and the closure of bars. The average rate of positive tests for the week of September 6th was 6.5 percent, up slightly from the 6 percent recorded the week before.

The total number of COVID-19 cases here stands at 29,957. The death toll in Shelby County rose by five in last 24 hours to at 439.

There are 7,759 contacts in quarantine, the first time that number has been below 8,000 in many weeks.