Coronavirus cases are surging in Hamilton County and Southeast Tennessee, part of a nationwide spike in cases as temperatures drop and people experience coronavirus fatigue, which causes them to take risks that they would have avoided months earlier.
While cases have spiked locally, they have yet to reach the peak the area experienced over the summer when, in July, the county averaged 121 new cases a day, hospitalizations were well above 100 and, several weeks later, death totals climbed.
As of Monday, the county was averaging 107 new cases a day in the past week and there were 80 hospitalizations from the virus, according to the Hamilton County Health Department.
The coming colder months pose a serious risk of spreading the disease further as northern states such as Wisconsin and the Dakotas experience sharp increases in infections.
Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert, warned Tennesseans should learn from the struggles northern states are facing.