Health officials express concerns during update on pandemic

JACKSON, Tenn. — Health officials say they’re concerned for the number of tests they could be receiving in the next few days.

The Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department did not receive any test results from the state lab this weekend, but not because there weren’t any to send.

“They’ve been testing inmates in those facilities that had outbreaks over the weekend,” Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department director Kim Tedford said.

Tedford says, for the most part, the community is following the social distancing guidelines.

“I do feel like there are some in the community who are not following those guidelines because we keep seeing an increase in the numbers,” Tedford said.

The hospital has nine patients who have tested positive and three on ventilators.

Amy Garner with West Tennessee Healthcare says she is going to start looking into why the hospitalization rate in West Tennessee seems to be higher than the state average.

“We still have plenty of beds, but when we’re talking about serving the whole region, and if our hospitalization rate are higher in this region than the state as a whole, we could run into an issue if we have a sudden spike of patients,” Garner said.

Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris says no inmates have been tested for COVID-19.

Mayor Harris also said the number of inmates currently in the Criminal Justice Complex is down because of judges, the District Attorney’s office, the police department and sheriff’s office.

“A part of the reason that census is down is because they work hard to make sure that somebody that’s in jail has to be there, and if they can release or discharge them, they have,” Mayor Harris said.

And Jackson Mayor Scott Conger says everything he’s seeing suggests people are taking this seriously.

“I was impressed. Everyone had masks on, they were keeping their distance. Everyone is generally following the guidelines of the order,” Mayor Conger said.