1 | Moore gets seven new cases this week. For the second week in a row, Moore County gained seven new COVID cases. In the last seven days, 791 folks from Moore County have been tested. We now have 16 active case and 19 recovered cases. Moore County has not experienced any COVID-19 related deaths.

2 | Masks required at Raider football games. Spectator seats may be limited and those who do attend home Raider football games will be required to get their temperatures checked and wear masks, according to a plan approved by the TSSAA board this week. To read our full coverage of that plan, click here.

3 | Hospitalization numbers are on the rise. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week hospitalizations rose by over 100 for three consecutive days. That’s the highest daily increase since the pandemic started. In the past seven days, Tennessee’s seen a 471 rise in hospitalizations as a result of COVID-19 from 369 the week before.

4 | Only 16 percent of state ICU beds available. If you pay attend to COVID-19 related statistics, one crucial number to watch is the number of available intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the state. Currently, COVID-19 patients occupy 1,715 of our state’s 2,034 available ICU beds. That’s just 16 percent. The good news is that there are 1,037 of the states 1,578 ventilators available. For full Tennessee Hospital Capacity numbers click here.

5 | Tennessee experiences deadliest COVID-19 day. Thursday marked Tennessee’s deadliest COVID-19 day with 37 new deaths. That’s the highest single-day increase in Tennessee deaths since the global pandemic began. The total number of COVID-19 related deaths in Tennessee is now 938 as of Friday’s, 2 p.m. numbers.

6 | Numbers in rural counties are spiking. Long-term care facilities like Lynchburg Nursing Center use community spread metrics to determine whether or not residents can receive family visits. That metric is an average of less than 10 new cases per 100,000 over the last 14 days. According to the state Department of Health, Moore, Bedford, Coffee, Franklin, and Lincoln counties are above that threshold. In fact, 83 of Tennessee’s 95 counties exist about that threshold. For complete case county by county numbers, click here. •

{The Lynchburg Times is the only independently owned and operated newspaper in Lynchburg. We cover Metro Moore County government, Jack Daniel’s Distillery, Nearest Green Distillery, Tims Ford State Park, Motlow State Community College, Moore County High School, Moore County Middle School, Lynchburg Elementary, Raider Sports, plus regional and state news.}