Balladâs coverage area includes 21 counties in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
One new death was reported in Washington County.
Numbers from the Tennessee Department of Healthâs daily report for Wednesday:
Northeast Tennessee
⢠One new death (in Washington County) and 138 new cases for the eight-county region.
⢠New cases by county: 40 in Washington; 33 in Sullivan; 19 in Hawkins; 17 in Greene; 14 in Carter; 10 in Johnson; four in Unicoi; and one in Hancock.
⢠Active cases by county: 473 in Sullivan; 400 in Washington; 142 in Greene; 127 in Carter; 110 in Hawkins; 33 in Unicoi; 29 in Johnson; and nine in Hancock.
Tennessee
⢠Pandemic totals are 11,976 deaths and 819,505 cases.
⢠97% of total cases (794,716) were listed as âinactive/recovered.â
Covid remains low at Paris Regional Medical Center, with just four Covid-infected people inpatient daily over the last week. In the community, our new active cases are around five to 10 a day, which still puts us at a 45 to 50 weekly count (under 10 considered good control). The panhandle is experiencing a rise in cases, and Southeastern Oklahoma still has county cases greater than 200.
At least 17% of the population in the U.S. is thought to be vaccinated (84 million have received one dose). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that Covid-vaccinated people may travel in the U.S. without getting tested or self-quarantining, but should still wear a mask in public areas, avoid crowds and practice hand hygiene. While having the vaccine protects the individual, we still wear masks at this point as there are still people in the community without immunity who can be infected. There have been no deaths and no signs of increased illness (other than brief appropriate im
âAre we there, yet?â
Thatâs a backseat query we havenât heard in more than a year as weâve curtailed our travels, family visits and outings to sports events and other destinations. All because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But when that question is applied to COVID, itself, the answer is, âNo, not yet. But soon. Itâs just around the next bend.â
Now is not the time to let up; we need to keep our foot on the gas and our eyes on the road. That means continuing to push ahead with COVID vaccinations, maintaining social distancing and masking up when necessary to protect ourselves and others.