Weekly Positivity Rate Falls For First Time Since May
* as of Wednesday, July 29th
Shelby County added 362 new cases of COVID-19 on test results reported since Tuesday morning.
The number is not the number of new cases on tests given yesterday. Tests results are now rarely returned within 24 hours and can take up to eight or more days. The new-case count comes from numerous tests over numerous days from numerous laboratories.
The latest weekly data available shows 14.1 percent of all tests were positive for the week of July 19th. The figure is down from the 16.2 percent rate recorded for the week of July 12th. It marks the first decrease in the weekly positivity rate rate since the 4 percent rate recorded for the week of May 4th, just as the county’s economy began to reopen.
The county’s overall average positive rate for COVID-19 was 10.2 percent on Wednesday, according to the latest figures from the Shelby County Health Department, on all test results reported since the virus arrived here in March.
The total number of COVID-19 cases here stands at 20,238. Five new deaths were reported since Wednesday morning. The death toll in Shelby County now stands at 273. The total of known COVID-19 cases now diagnosed in Shelby County is 5,205. The figure is 25 percent of all virus cases recorded in Shelby county since March. However, there are 7,987 contacts now in quarantine.
