Twenty-three people have died in Shelby County of COVID-19 in the past seven days as the highly contagious delta variant spreads in the Memphis area, and those deaths are overwhelmingly among those who have not received the readily available vaccines, officials said Thursday.
The grim count of 23 dead is nearly double the number of deaths from a week earlier, when 12 people died of COVID-19 over seven days, city Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen told reporters in a briefing.
To date, the COVID-19 virus and virus variants have killed 1,735 people in Shelby County.
The fast-spreading delta variant now accounts for about 90% of cases in the county, and hospitalizations are now spiking, too, McGowen said. Two weeks ago, 115 people were hospitalized with COVID-19. Last week, that number rose to 162.