Seventh death in county from COVID-19 reported, active cases at 129

The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) reported the seventh total death in Bledsoe County from COVID-19, the sixth among the general population, on Sunday, December 20. 

The same day, TDH reported 129 active cases in the county, of which approximately 11 are inmates at Bledsoe County Correctional Complex (BCCX), according to the latest data from the Tennessee Department of Correction released on December 15. 

This is the highest number of active cases for a single given time for the county since May, although most of the active cases at that time were among inmates at BCCX. 

Tennessee is undergoing a massive surge in new cases, with the state having the highest average number of newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases in the past week in the entire United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. As of Sunday, Tennessee had 84,710 active cases and 5,378 deaths. 

Governor Bill Lee is expected to address the state Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter regarding the surge in Tennessee. He announced on Saturday, December 19, his wife Maria Lee had tested positive for COVID-19 and was exhibiting mild symptoms. 

A total of 265 new cases have been reported thus far in December in Bledsoe County, according to TDH data, and 192 people have recovered. Another 1,300 tests have come back negative in December so far.

A total of 1,454 people have tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic in March in Bledsoe County, including approximately 784 at BCCX. A total of 12,011 have tested negative, including approximately 4,168 at BCCX.