COVID-19 continues to spread unchecked in Bedford County and throughout the State of Tennessee.

In the last 14 days the number of new cases in Bedford County is up 20 percent from the prior two weeks.

From Nov. 18 through Dec. 1 there were 579 new cases reported in Bedford County. The previous 14 days, Nov. 4 through Nov. 17 there were 482 new cases reported in Bedford County.

The percentage of tests that resulted in a positive finding (the positivity rate) was 20.5 percent in Bedford County, four times over what the Centers for Disease Control says is necessary to determine how widespread the infection is.

“The higher the percent positive is, the more concerning it is. As a rule of thumb, however, one threshold for the percent positive being ‘too high’ is 5%,” according to Johns Hopkins University. “Because a high percentage of positive tests suggests high coronavirus infection rates (due to high transmission in the community), a high percent positive can indicate it may be a good time to add restrictions to slow the spread of disease.”

In the last seven days, there were 1,741 tests conducted in Bedford County and 358 produced positive results.

In the last seven days (Nov. 25 through Dec. 1) there were 168,620 tests conducted statewide and 34,332 came back positive, a positivity rate of 20.36 percent.

The number of cases amongst Bedford County school age children (ages 5-18) continues to climb with 50 reported in the last seven days, although with 412 tests conducted in this age group the positivity rate for Dec. 1 was a low 2.427 percent.

Statewide, the number of people being hospitalized for the coronavirus last week is up 84.26 percent over five weeks ago. From Nov. 25 through Dec. 1, 492 Tennesseans were hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19. Five weeks earlier the number was 267.

In the last 14 days, 643 Tennesseans died from the coronavirus, an average of 46 daily.

On Tuesday, the state reported that just 8 percent of the state’s Intensive Care beds were available; 164 of the total 2,037.