News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
COVID positivity rates across the Upper Cumberland reached 50.8 percent for the final week of January.
The CDC early in the COVID pandemic set 10 percent as a goal for the positivity rate. According to state data for the last week of January, Pickett County had a positivity rate over 75 percent.
Statewide, COVID cases dropped 19 percent last week, the first decrease in cases since the omicron variant developed.
But as predicted by state health officials, the Upper Cumberland may only be seeing the crest now. Cumberland County saw its case counts more than double from 772 over the first two weeks of January to 1,688 the final two weeks. Jackson County’s case count went from 191 to 413 by the end of the month. Fentress County also saw its case count double in January with some 623 cases the last two weeks. In Van Buren County, the state data showed the case count go from 71 to 218.
White County data showed 512 cases in the final week of January. Dekalb County reported 335 cases last week. Overton County reported 328 cases last week. Clay County had a reported positivity rate of 56.2 percent with 106 cases.
In Putnam County, 49.8 of COVID tests reported to the state are returning positive results for COVID. More than 300 tests per day were conducted last week.
Warren County reported the lowest positivity rate in the Upper Cumberland at 41 percent. Case numbers increased from 790 to 1756 over the final two weeks of the month.
State officials said the omicron variant was leveling off in the metro areas, meaning it would likely be early this month before it happened in more rural areas. Davidson County had a 33 percent positivity rate last week, while Shelby County reported an 18 percent rate.
The state changed its reporting system late in 2021, to only report numbers once per week.
