The Tennessee Department of Health released new COVID-19 case counts on Tuesday at 2 p.m. and Tennessee now reports 13,690 (119 more than the previous day). Our state has now experienced 226 deaths (seven more since yesterday). According to the state, 6,356 COVID-19 patients have recovered. That’s around 47 percent of reported cases. As of today, 218,795 of Tennessee’s 6.8 million residents have been tested. Here’s the top four things you need to know for today:

1| Lynchburg’s official count remain three. Moore County continues to reflect three cases with 184 Moore County residents tested. Regionally, the counts are as follows: Bedford County (201), Coffee County (45), Franklin County (36), and Lincoln County (16).

2 | State stops updating Mayor Lewis daily. According to Mayor Lewis, the Tennessee Department of Health will no longer update her office daily about new confirmed cases. Instead they will personally update every time that number increases by a factor of five.

3 | Republican officials want COVID restrictions listed. On Tuesday, Republican Party leadership from eight Middle Tennessee counties sent an open letter to Governor Bill Lee asking for a repeal of the state-mandated COVID-19 restrictions. The letter was signed by leadership from Coffee, Giles, Lawrence, Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, Perry, and Wayne counties. Membership from Moore County did not sign the letter.

4 | Mass prison testing begins this week. According to Governor Lee’s Unified Command Group, every Tennessee Department of Corrections prison inmate and state will be tested for COVID-19 this week.

{The Lynchburg Times is an independently owned and operated newspaper that publishes new stories every morning. Covering 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.}