MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) — The number of new COVID-19 infections reported by state health officials headed higher last week after falling for eight weeks in a row.
By early October, new infection counts had fallen to just 5100 reported cases statewide during a single seven-day period. However, during the week that ended Saturday reported cases ticked back up 7 percent.
The number of COVID-19 deaths also rose slightly this past week. Hospitalizations are on the rise as well for the first time since early September.
The slight increases are likely to stoke fears expressed by local physicians that new virus variants, currently fueling a surge of infections in Europe, may cause a new wave of cases this fall and winter here in Tennessee.