24 Tennessee counties now at 'high risk' for COVID, as infections rise across the state

July 20, 2022 at 10:00 p.m. | Updated July 22, 2022 at 4:08 p.m.

by Anita Wadhwani / Tennessee Lookout

John Partipilo / Tennessee Lookout / A child receives a shot in this file photo from the Tennessee Lookout. COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months are now available in the Chattanooga region, giving parents who eagerly waited 18 months since the first COVID-19 vaccines for adults arrived in Hamilton County an opportunity to better protect their children from the coronavirus.
John Partipilo / Tennessee Lookout / A child receives a shot in this file photo from the Tennessee Lookout. COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months are now available in the Chattanooga region, giving parents who eagerly waited 18 months since the first COVID-19 vaccines for adults arrived in Hamilton County an opportunity to better protect their children from the coronavirus.

If it seems like more people in your orbit have been coming down with COVID-19 recently, it's not your imagination

COVID-19 is spreading again, not yet at the same high levels of last spring, but the disease is experiencing a noticeable spike in Tennessee and across the country.

One in four Tennessee counties is now at high risk for COVID-19, part of a growing nationwide surge in the virus that nevertheless remains an undercount as a result of widespread and unreported in-home testing, according to July 14 data released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nashville, Chattanooga, Clarksville, portions of northeast Tennessee and rural western parts of the state are in the 24 counties experiencing the highest rates of COVID-19.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported Monday that Hamilton is one of nine counties in the Chattanooga region currently considered high-risk for COVID-19 infection by the CDC. The area's high-risk counties are Hamilton, Marion and Sequatchie counties in Tennessee, Chattooga, Dade, Gordon and Walker counties in Georgia and DeKalb and Jackson counties in Alabama.

Memphis and Knoxville are among 50 counties in Tennessee with rapidly rising levels of the virus - areas currently classified by the CDC as at "medium" risk.

Tennessee now ranks 13th in the nation for its rate of COVID-19. Hospitalizations have increased by 21% over the prior week, but inpatient levels remain far below previous surges that taxed nurses and doctors and swallowed available bed space in some of the state's healthcare facilities.

(READ MORE: Tennessee House leaders ask Gov. Lee not to promote COVID-19 vaccinations for children under 5)

CDC recommendations for people living in high-risk areas include wearing masks in indoor public places and remaining up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccines. Tennessee is the fifth-least vaccinated state in the nation, based on its percentage of fully vaccinated individuals.

The CDC also advises people with symptoms to get tested and isolate from others to reduce the risk of transmitting disease.

(READ MORE: Hamilton County to begin administering COVID-19 shots for young children)

Tennessee averaged more than 2,400 cases and seven deaths per day, according to Tennessee Department of Health data. The state's current fatality rate from COVID-19 hovers at about twice above the national average, according to the CDC. As of last week, the state reported that 26,772 Tennesseans have died since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 after contracting COVID-19.

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