In the first 10 days of the new year, 536 residents of Bedford County have tested positive for the coronavirus. During that 10 days, there were 1,546 tests conducted in the county. The resulting positivity rate of 34 precent is around six times what the CDC and others say is necessary to have any idea of how widespread the virus is.

"A higher percent positive suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with coronavirus in the community who haven't been tested yet," according to Johns Hopkins University.

"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.

Statewide, the positivity rate for the first 10 days of 2021 was 22.5 percent, more than four times the recommended rate.

According to Becker's Hospital Review, Tennessee's ranks 13th highest in all the states for its percentage of positive tests.

On Jan. 10, there were 592 active cases of COVID-19 in Bedford County.

In the first 10 days of 2021, 58 school age children in Bedford County tested positive for the virus.

There have been 15 deaths in Bedford County attributed to COVID-19 in the first 10 days of the new year. Since the pandemic arrived in Tennessee on March 5, the state has attributed the deaths of 76 residents of Bedford County to the virus.

As of Jan. 7, the state health department reports that Shelbyville nursing home Glen Oaks has had 67 residents and 32 staff members test positive for the coronavirus and six residents have died. The Waters of Shelbyville has had 41 residents and 24 staff members test positive and nine residents have died.

Bedford County has had the 38th highest average daily rate of the virus of the 95 counties in Tennessee; the state was the 6th highest for its average daily number of new cases in the nation on Jan. 10.

In the first 10 days of the new year, 776 Tennesseans were hospitalized with COVID-19.

Drive through testing for COVID-19 has again been reduced in recent weeks to just two days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Bedford County Agriculture and Education Center, 2119 Midland Road in Shelbyville. At other times take home tests will be offered.

**Vaccine rollout stumbles

On Friday, there was a flurry of email press releases about how the state's vaccination program will be conducted in Bedford County. The new program was supposed to begin yesterday (Jan. 11) but shortly after sending out the news releases on Friday, they were retracted because the health department was said to be in the process of establishing a phone number for people to make appointments.

At 11 a.m. on Monday, a news release was sent out. See accompanying story "New system for local covid-19 vaccination."

According to the State health department 1.85 percent of Bedford County residents (920) had been given their first dose of the vaccine by Jan. 4.