Hamilton County reports three new COVID-19 deaths, including someone under 40 with no underlying conditions

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / A clinician administers a COVID-19 test at the Avondale Youth and Family Development Center on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Cempa Community Care was offering free walk-up and drive-thru testing for COVID-19.
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / A clinician administers a COVID-19 test at the Avondale Youth and Family Development Center on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Cempa Community Care was offering free walk-up and drive-thru testing for COVID-19.

Hamilton County has reported three more coronavirus-related deaths in three days, including a person under 40 years old with no underlying conditions.

The county now has logged 22 deaths from the virus and 1,889 infections, an increase of 47 from Sunday. Becky Barnes, Hamilton County Health Department administrator, said a death announced over the weekend actually occurred in March.

The state medical examiner determined the death to be from the coronavirus since the person - a white male more than 81 years old with underlying conditions - had symptoms of the virus, Barnes said.

The health department reported two additional deaths Monday, both Hispanic males - one between 31 and 40 years old with no underlying conditions and one between 71 and 80 years old with underlying conditions. Monday's death is the second person in the county to die from the virus without underlying conditions.

Across the state, Hispanic residents are disproportionately affected by the virus, with the largest discrepancy in Hamilton County. Hispanic residents here are 6% of the county population and 66% of the coronavirus infections.

Local officials urged residents to wear masks to stop the spread of the virus. Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said wearing masks is the best way to protect others. However, as cases continue to surge in the county, officials are worried people are complacent about following safety measures.

"We are not seeing people take this as seriously as they should be, and as a result of that we are seeing more and more people testing positive," Coppinger said.

Business owners can require customers to wear a mask but the county cannot enforce a mask mandate, Coppinger said.

Until there is a vaccine for COVID-19, wearing a mask is the best substitute, Barnes said, but people need to follow the guidance.

"We don't have anywhere close to enough people wearing masks to protect our community," she said.

COVID-19 testing will continue this week at Brainerd High and Orchard Knob Elementary throughout the week, as well as at other locations throughout the area.

Coppinger said there is concern about people distributing false information near testing sites in an attempt to dissuade people from getting tested. People were handing out pamphlets near Brainerd High Monday accusing the government of collecting information to be used against them.

The information collected by the health department is only used to do contact tracing, the mayor said, which means gathering information about a person's contacts in the community for the purpose of tracking the spread of the virus.

Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.

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