The Knox County Health Department reports 1,186 coronavirus cases and 30 probable cases.

That's 343 new cases in the past week, with 16, 53, 15, 50, 70, 46, 93 as the cases per day for the past week.

According to the TN Dept. of Health, on 6/27/2020 for the first time Knox County broke the threshold for rate of new covid-19 cases per 100,000 Tennesseans.
Knox County continues to break this threshold, three times in the past week.
This threshold is used for decision making processes, e.g. long term care facilities in counties below the threshold for 14 consecutive days may consider allowing visitors. Sevier County has been above this threshold for 14 days.

There are seventeen Knox County COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized. That's one less hospitalized than last week.

There have been six total deaths in Knox County from COVID-19.
One of our citizens died this past week from the coronavirus.

As of June 30, 2020, ICU Bed availability is down since June 25 to 11.0% (272 ICU beds total with 30 beds available).

The County Health Department has a map with the number of coronavirus cases per zip code.
On July 2, 2020, these zip codes were reported with the most cases:
37921 has the most cases with 126 (population 28,000) (28.5% increase), then
37923 with 85 cases (population 30,000) (23.2% increase) and
37920 with 81 cases (population 39,000) (32.8% increase).
37917 with 77 cases (population 27,000) (40.0% increase)

Largest weekly jump in coronavirus cases so far.

From reports dated as of July 4, 2020.
There has been a steady increase in coronavirus (covid-19) cases in Tennessee.

According to the TN Dept. of Health, 50,140 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in TN and 637 584 have died from it..
That is an additional 9,968 cases in one week and an additional 53 reported deaths.
That is nearly double the highest weekly increase in coronavirus cases.

Every day this week there were record numbers of newly detected coronavirus cases in Tennessee, as compared to any previous weeks..

878,230 residents have been tested.
That is an additional 130,001 tests in the past week.
67,153 more tests were given in the last week as compared to the week before.

Hospitalizations are up. From June 25 to July 2 (7 days) the number of patients hospitalized for the coronavirus has increased by 161 from 499 to 660.

5.7% of TN residents tested for the coronavirus have tested positive for the coronavirus.
12.7% of the 6.89 million people estimated to live in TN have been tested for the coronavirus.

Be careful out there.

Does anyone know of any Knox County business that are compliant with the new mask ordinance? I went to my usual Weigels last night and they will obviously be doing everything they can to undermine any chance of this ordinance there. That's their business. I will take mine else-where.

I'm wondering if there is a group source to determine ahead of time which businesses will operate under the mask ordinance and which will turn the other way and ignore it. I'll have to find someone selling gas. I'll need groceries. I'll need a hardware store, and frankly, I'd like access to rural king, tractor supply and a sporting goods store.

Isn't life ironic? I got the kids raised, the bills paid, and am approaching retirement with as much disposable income as I've ever had, and based on what I saw just looking around on my way home from work last night, no where to spend it.

It sucks to be old in a county where your state representative, county mayor and sheriff are actively engaged in a process to kill your demographic.

I will drive to Blount, Loudon and Monroe Counties to shop and trade at mask compliant businesses if we could somehow come up with a list.

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

A little trivia, by 1776, we’d actually been working on declaring our independence for years:

• 1773: the Boston Tea Party took place as a protest against British taxation of colonial tea
• 1774: the First Continental Congress began meeting to discuss what to do about Britain’s imposing unfair laws on the colonies.
• 1775: the Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775, with the battles at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, and would continue until 1783 with America’s victory at Yorktown, Virginia

.

Be careful out there.

Beginning in August, the retailer is converting 160 of its US store parking lots into drive-in movie theaters.

The event will run through October and encompass more than 300 showings.

Walmart is transforming 160 of its parking lots into drive-in theaters

Passed by the Board of Health. Masks are now mandatory inside in all public building. There was only one dissenting vote. Bet you can guess who that was.

Oklahoma will become the latest state to adopt the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion after voters passed a ballot measure Tuesday
...
The result also marks the fifth time voters implemented Medicaid expansion at the ballot box after waiting years for their Republican governors and legislatures to act.
...
The Sooner State’s 14% uninsured rate is the second-highest in the nation, behind only Texas and tied with Georgia.

Check out this map indicating the states that have and have not implemented Medicaid expansion. Seven of the 14 that have not implemented Medicaid expansion are in the southeast (of course).
The remaining six that have not implemented Medicaid expansion are Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Several new public health and safety measures will be in place, some only "where mandated." Masks will be required for employees and patrons.

Regal Reopening Begins July 31

While everyone is arguing about masks, crowded Cracker Barrels and going out honkytonkin', here's a fascinating look into the science of just trying to figure out what the hell is going on, much less develop a treatment or a vaccine...

Washington Post: This coronavirus mutation has taken over the world. Scientists are trying to understand why.

James Fallows in the Atlantic - The 3 Weeks That Changed Everything

If Trump let this pandemic ride out because he thought he could use it to lean on China to manipulate the soy-bean market to help him win re-election it's in the OMFG territory of epic, unimaginable scandals. What appears to have happened with our monitoring on COVID is the equivalent of flying into a storm with multiple radar pings of deadly, devastating turbulence everywhere only to turn the radar off, lock the cockpit, strap on some parachutes and jump while looking back at the plane and its passengers as it flew away, moving blindly ahead into the darkness.

The trick was seeing whether crucial information could spark interest among others on the staff and eventually drift its way to Trump. “Does he just willfully ignore all outside information?” Paul Triolo asked. “I don’t think he ever saw or read any of the intel reports. He does listen to Navarro”—Peter Navarro, the former labor economist who had become a leading hawk on trade policy toward China. On January 29—after the trade deal Navarro championed had been signed—Navarro sent Trump a memo warning of the pandemic threat spreading from China. Navarro had no public-health background, and the people I spoke with viewed the memo mainly as an extension of his overall perspective on China. Whatever its merits, there is no evidence that Trump read or absorbed this memo or any other written documents.

Once, Obama wore a tan jacket.

Now you may be ready to gather friends for something more complex, perhaps finding a karaoke version of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”

CHORUS:
The lunatic in our White House

The lunatic in our White House
Remembering tweets he sneers and then he laughs

Got to keep his loonies on the path



The lunatics in the House

The lunatics in the Senate

Newspapers hold their folded faces to the floor

And every day their website brings us more

Details here...

He doesn't sound too serious. No gatherings of more than 50 people, except churches, weddings and funerals. No contact sports, except college and pro. Etc. Also, it might be a good idea to wear a mask, but you don't have to if you don't want to.

(link...)

One would never wish ill on an individual, but what is going on?

Election day is coming up on August 6, 2020,
There will be State and Federal Primaries and County General Elections.

Check out the sample Democratic ballot.

Tuesday, July 7, 2020, is the final day to register to vote before election.
That's just one week away.

Absentee ballot requests must be received by July 30, 2020.

The rules have changed a bit for being eligible to vote with an absentee ballot.

Pursuant to the June 4, 2020 Order of the Davidson County Chancery Court, if you are a registered voter and do not wish to vote in-person due to the COVID-19 situation, you are eligible to request an absentee ballot by mail.

* I am hospitalized, ill or physically disabled and unable to appear at my polling place to vote; and/or I have determined it is impossible or unreasonable to vote in-person due to the COVID-19 situation.
* I am a caretaker of a hospitalized, ill or physically disabled person, and/or I have determined it is impossible or unreasonable to vote in-person due to the COVID-19 situation.

This year is important at all levels. Let's get out the vote.

The Knox County Health Department reports 843 coronavirus cases and 28 probable cases.

That's 202 new cases in the past week, with 15, 24, 36, 18, 39, 34, 36 as the cases per day for the past week.

According to the TN Dept. of Health, on 6/27/2020 for the first time Knox County broke the threshold for rate of new covid-19 cases per 100,000 Tennesseans. This threshold is used for decision making processes, e.g. long term care facilities in counties below the threshold for 14 consecutive days may consider allowing visitors. Sevier County has been above this threshold for 14 days.

There are eighteen Knox County COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized. That's fourteen more hospitalized than last week. There have been five total deaths in Knox County from COVID-19.

As of June 25, 2020, ICU Bed availability is at 14.3% (272 ICU beds total with 39 beds available).

The County Health Department has a map with the number of coronavirus cases per zip code.
On June 25, 2020, these zip codes were reported with the most cases:
37921 has the most cases with 98 (population 28,000), then
37923 with 69 cases (population 30,000) and
37920 with 61 cases (population 39,000) .
37917 with 55 cases (population 27,000)

From reports dated as of June 27, 2020.
There has been a steady increase in coronavirus (covid-19) cases in Tennessee.

According to the TN Dept. of Health, 40,172 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in TN and 584 have died from it..
That is an additional 5,726 cases in one week and an additional 60 reported deaths.

On 6/26 and 6/19, there were record numbers of newly detected coronavirus cases in Tennessee, 1,410 and 1,188 respectively.

748,229 residents have been tested.
That is an additional 62,848 tests in the past week.
21,372 less tests were given in the last week as compared to the week before.

That is two weeks in a row where the number of tests given has decreased.
Is this the Trump program to do fewer test and get fewer cases? If so, it is not working. The weekly number of positive cases in Tennessee are higher than in previous weeks.

Hospitalizations are up. From June 19 to June 25 (6 days) the number of patients hospitalized for the coronavirus has increased by 59 from 425 to 484.

5.4% of TN residents tested for the coronavirus have tested positive for the coronavirus.
10.6% of the 6.89 million people estimated to live in TN have been tested for the coronavirus.

Be careful out there.

TN 799 new cases, NY 805 new cases on June 25th

And the State of New York has three times the population of the State of Tennessee.

Yeehaw!

Be careful out there.

Lox Salon on Jackson Ave Is currently doing sidewalk donation haircuts and money goes to Second Harvest food bank. So if you need a haircut today ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Milton Glaser, the groundbreaking graphic designer who adorned Bob Dylan’s silhouette with psychedelic hair and summed up the feelings for his native New York with “I (HEART) NY,” died Friday, his 91st birthday.

Red: Three-day shifts detected above 3.0 standard deviations above a rolling mean (based on data from the previous 14 days)