LOCAL HEALTH NEWS — Moore County reported 38 new COVID-19 cases in the seven day period from Thursday, August 19 to Thursday, August 26. In the past 14 days, we’ve reported 85 new COVID-19 cases – or six new cases per day. There are currently 72 active cases in Moore County, according to the Tennessee Department of Health’s latest numbers. Our current percent positive test rate is 20.2 percent. Moore County also now reports a 21 percent vaccination rate, which is the lowest in the state of Tennessee, according to COVID Act Now.

In Tennessee, Stewart County now reports the highest rate of daily new cases, according to COVID Act Now. Marion County has the highest infection rate at 1.46 with Coffee County following closely behind at 1.42. Hancock County reports the highest positive test rate at 48.7 percent.

Here are some milestones that have happening in the past seven days:

TUESDAY

Bledsoe County cancels football game due to COVID concerns. On Tuesday, Moore County Sports Director Josh Deal announced that Bledsoe County school officials cancelled the Raider game against the Warriors in Pikeville scheduled for August 27 due to COVID concerns. As of Thursday, the Moore County at Bledsoe County game was one of 24 games cancelled in the state including Whitwell at Huntland and Central at Franklin County. None of those games will be rescheduled.

Tennessee passes the one million case milestone. Also on Tuesday, Tennessee surpassed one million COVID cases since state health officials first began the count in March 2020.

WEDNESDAY

36% of all state COVID cases are kids. During her weekly press conference, Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey stated that children now make up 36 percent of all Tennessee’s reported COVID-19 cases. In the past three days, the state data reflects one death among kids age 10 and under and two deaths between the ages of 11 and 20. Seven children have died of COVID this month. Later that day, Channel 5’s Phil Williams reported that in a call with TN school officials, a state department of health official stated that there were 14,000 new COVID cases among children and 1,300 ER visits the previous week.

THURSDAY

Coffee County schools close. As mentioned earlier in this article, Coffee County reported the second highest infection rate in the state of Tennessee this week. On Thursday, they closed all Coffee County Schools on Monday, August 30 and Tuesday, August 31 due to COVID concerns. The school system already planned to be out from September 1-6 for Inservice, Bonnaroo Day, and Labor Day.

Nine Titans test positive for COVID. On Thursday, nine Tennessee Titan players including QB Ryan Tannehill tested positive for COVID-19 and were placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Coach Mike Vrabel also tested positive on Sunday. The Titans are scheduled to host the Arizona Cardinals in Nashville in Week 1 on September 12. •

{The Lynchburg Times is the only daily newspaper in Lynchburg. 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.}