Hamilton County coronavirus cases rose slightly to 32 Friday from 30 on Thursday, the smallest day-over-day increase this week, the same day that the county began the first local virus testing.
In a release late Friday, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department confirmed that had it completed its first round of testing for the virus in the Baylor School lab, the only local lab doing the testing, on Friday, a day later than planned. According to a spokesman for the department, the testing was stalled a day because "they were still working on paperwork," but would not share any additional details. The spokesman said the lab did start testing samples from each of the county's three largest hospitals, but he could not say how many tests were completed or were in progress on Friday.
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County Mayor Jim Coppinger estimated Wednesday that the department would start doing 65 tests per day, and later do as many as 300 as it added equipment.
In the release, the department also announced that it would cut back on certain public health services to prevent the spread of the virus, which has gone from 1-32 cases locally in the last two weeks. The services temporarily suspended by the county are as follows:
* Immunizations and well child physicals.
* Home visits/community outreach.
* Community meetings.
* Routine restaurant inspections.
* Preventative dental services.
* Well child physical exams.
* Car seat program.
Contact Sarah Grace Taylor at staylor@times freepress.com or 423-757-6416. Follow her on Twitter @_sarahgtaylor.