More than 73K active COVID-19 cases in Tennessee

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - The Tennessee Department of Health reported 6,369 new COVID-19 cases Friday and 126 additional deaths.

The state has now had 640,606 people contract the virus and 7,618 die. Nearly 560,000 virus cases in the state are now considered inactive while 73,363 active cases remain.

The Shelby County Health Department reported 898 new coronavirus cases and 19 new deaths countywide Friday. Health leaders released a statement saying the deaths occurred between Dec. 24 and Jan. 5 but were just added to the county’s totals.

Friday’s numbers bring the county to 1,003 total coronavirus deaths in Shelby County. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 72,626 coronavirus cases have been reported.

There are currently 6,977 active coronavirus cases and 2,606 contacts have been identified within the last 14 days.

The weekly test positivity rate is 17.5% - which is the highest recorded since the beginning of the pandemic. SCHD said the testing positivity rate is the percentage of all tests conducted that are found to be positive.

As of Thursday, Jan. 7, hospital capacity was still limited with 94% of acute care beds and 95% of ICU beds currently utilized.

Below is a list of ongoing and completed clusters at long-term care facilities. A COVID-19 cluster is considered completed once a facility has gone 28 days without a new case.

Here’s a breakdown for COVID-19 cases across the Department of Corrections in Shelby County.