Lynchburg seems to be hitting a tipping point in the COVID 19 pandemic — and not in a good way. New, active COVID 19 cases have skyrocketed in Lynchburg over the past seven days. We now sit at 522 total cases, including 24 new cases overnight and 27 new cases over the weekend. In the last seven days, we’ve added 84 new cases — over twice the number of the previous seven day period of 34 new cases. Our positivity rate is now 27.1 percent. To learn more about Moore County specific date, visit the state’s COVID 19 dashboard by clicking here.
According to state rankings by county, Moore County has the eighth highest rate of infection per population. Regionally, Lincoln County continues to be a hotspot with 56 new cases overnight and 346 over the last seven days. Lincoln has the highest rate of infection per population out of Tennessee’s 95 counties. Bedford County sits at number 11. Coffee County is at number 18. Franklin County is ranked number 39.
Nationally, COVID 19 is now the leading cause of daily deaths in U.S. — moving ahead of heart disease, according to the latest report from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. On average, the U.S. loses 2,353 Americans from heart disease each day. On December 8, the U.S. surpassed that number with 2,661 COVID death a day — a number that continues to rise.
According to the Federation of American Scientists, if Tennessee were an independent country, we’d have the eighth worst outbreak in the world. Only Rhode Island is fairing worst than the Volunteer State. Tennessee suffers from the second highest rate of infection per population with 107 new cases per 100,000 citizens per day.
The rising case numbers cause concern for overwhelming area hospitals. On Monday the state Hospital Capacity site provided by the Tennessee Department of Health showed that just 10 percent of the state’s ICU beds were available for new COVID patients. A surge of new patients could easily overload local systems. Even if beds are available, most hospitals are short staffed with doctors, nurses, and support staff stretched to their limits. •
{The Lynchburg Times is the only independently owned and operated newspaper in Lynchburg, Tennessee. 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.}