Sarah Grace Taylor

Leaders from Chattanooga, Hamilton County and the state are struggling to come up with a solution for temporarily housing the city's homeless population during the growing COVID-19 crisis.

A child under 5 years old has died of COVID-19 in Hamilton County, marking the first local pediatric death from the virus, according to the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department.

The Chattanooga City Council's first virtual meeting amid social distancing highlighted some of the perils of online public meetings as online attendees used racist hate speech in the chat and council members debated transparency protocols amid the COVID-19 public health crisis.

Hamilton County announced its first community COVID-19 screening site Tuesday, the same day the county hit 50 known cases and confirmed its fourth local death from the novel coronavirus.

The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department announced Monday that a third person has died of COVID-19 in the county amid increasing signs of community spread.

More than two weeks after the outbreak was first detected in the county, Chattanooga and Hamilton County are looking to forge a more united front on COVID-19 response through a new joint task force.

As they grapple with COVID-19 as well as existing infrastructure needs, Hamilton County, Chattanooga and nine other municipalities within the county can look forward to some $9.2 million as their share of a $200 million statewide grant program created by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and state lawmakers.

Chattanooga bars, restaurants and breweries can temporarily make beer deliveries during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Tennessee's two largest cities, Nashville and Memphis, are expected to directly receive between $100 million and $125 million in relief through Congress' just-approved $2 trillion coronavirus response act.

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.

There are 30 cases of COVID-19 in Hamilton County, resulting in 13 hospitalized patients, according to the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department late Thursday.

A local preparatory school lab will begin diagnostic testing for COVID-19 Thursday morning, cutting the local test result time from around a week to just a matter of hours.

Two people now are known to have died from the new coronavirus in Hamilton County.

The Hamilton County Commission and Chattanooga City Council are taking different approaches to conducting meetings amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Effective at midnight Wednesday many Chattanooga businesses must close for the foreseeable future, per an executive order signed by Mayor Andy Berke to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Hamilton County nearly doubled between Monday and Tuesday.

The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga launched a $650,000 Community Response and Resilience Fund to benefit coronavirus relief on Tuesday.

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger announced a state of emergency in the county Monday afternoon, following suit more than a week after the federal government, state government and city of Chattanooga all announced states of emergency.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke announced late Monday that additional "non-essential" businesses in the city must temporarily close to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus.

As local governments brace for the impact of coronavirus spreading across the world and in Hamilton County, local judges are avoiding evictions.