Officials address stay-at-home extension, faster test results in daily update

JACKSON, Tenn. — Madison County’s number of positive COVID-19 cases is slowly climbing.

Health officials say they’re most concerned about seeing more cases requiring hospitalization.

“If those numbers skyrocket, that percentage of those affected like that are going to increase and that’s going to surge our hospital in a way that they will not be able to handle that,” said Kim Tedford, Director of Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department.

Monday, Governor Bill Lee extended the state-wide stay at home order through the end of the month. He also mentioned he hopes there will be a phased reboot of the economy starting in the beginning of May.

Local leaders say they’re going to do what’s best for Jackson and Madison County.

“I think the important thing is ours is going to be data driven,” said Jackson Mayor Scott Conger. “We’re not going to go on what we feel, what we think. What the data shows us, what the information shows us how we can do this.”

“I think we’re going to have to unwind it the same way we wound it to start with. And that is a little at a time,” said Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris.

Health officials say the longer we keep social distancing, the longer we keep more people safe.

“As long as we’re seeing an increase in numbers, it’s hard for me to want to open things back up and go back to life as normal,” Tedford said.

The hospital is also seeing faster turnaround times for test results and is no longer sending them to the state testing lab.

“We also have some limited ability to do some testing in our lab here in Jackson,” said Amy Garner of West Tennessee Healthcare.