(Mike Osborne) -- Records provided this week by state health officials show Tennessee’s COVID-19 numbers continue to improve.
As of Tuesday, the number of state residents hospitalized with virus related complications had fallen to 363 patients. Compare that to late January when more than 3,400 Tennesseans were under hospital care.
The number of children hospitalized due to coronavirus has also fallen sharply. As of Tuesday, there were 24 children receiving virus related hospital treatment statewide. That represents a five-fold decline from the 118 children hospitalized across Tennessee back in January.
Tennessee's new COVID-19 infection counts also continued to fall this past week..
Data released by health officials shows that in all of Tennessee just over 2100 new cases were reported during the week that ended Saturday. Compare that to early January when well over 117,000 new cases were confirmed in a single, seven day period.
Metro Nashville reported just 249 new infections last week. Quite a drop from the nearly 11,000 new cases reported Metro-wide in the second full week in January.
However, the new infection number likely are a significant undercount. Many people are now using home tests that aren’t always reported to the state.
The number of Tennesseans dying from virus related causes also fell sharply last week. COVID-19 proved fatal for 203 state residents during the week that ended Saturday. That's a significant decline from the 545 Tennesseans who died the week before.