Madison County sees largest COVID-19 increase with 81 new cases Monday

JACKSON, Tenn. — As of Monday morning, we have 1,187 positive cases of COVID-19 in Madison County.

“That is up 81 from yesterday’s numbers,” said Kim Tedford, Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department director. “64 of the 81 are positive results we received over the weekend from the jail testing.”

They’re still waiting on 17 results.

Officials say they’ll be testing inmates at the annex and penal farm later this week.

And requiring inmates to wear masks has been another big question.

The Jackson-Madison Regional Health Department and CJC reached out to CTAS to see what other jails across the state are doing about masks for inmates.

“We are already following what everyone else is doing,” Tedford said. “Those inmates are masked when they’re brought to arraignments or brought out of their cells.”

This past weekend was the first of two tax free weekends in Tennessee. Tedford says any time large groups happen, she is concerned.

“People say ‘so much for the masks working. The numbers continue to go up.’ Hello?! Do you see everyone following the mask mandate in Madison County? I don’t,” Tedford said.

We saw one of the biggest increases in positive cases on Saturday with 73 cases, and it’s been a month since the mask mandate has been implemented in Madison County.

“In an ideal world, everybody would have followed the mandate, all businesses would be requiring people to wear masks when they enter and maybe we could’ve seen a reduction in the numbers. We’re not flattening the curve. But it’s not because masks don’t work,” Tedford said.