Here is your Cleveland, Tenn. | Bradley County, Tenn. news on mymix1041.com, sponsored by Toyota of Cleveland: From WRCB Channel 3… The infection ra
Here is your Cleveland, Tenn. | Bradley County, Tenn. news on mymix1041.com, sponsored by Toyota of Cleveland:
The infection rate of COVID cases in children has doubled in the last week. Children are accounting for more than a third of COVID cases across Tennessee.
Here locally, pediatricians are seeing a lot more school-aged kids with the virus now.
In June, Heather Montgomery, a Family Nurse Practitioner at Allied Pediatrics, says they did not have any patients that tested positive for COVID. The last week of July they saw an uptick. August, they’ve seen their highest numbers yet.
Montgomery is seeing a lot of school-aged children and football players.
Dr. Lisa Piercey, the Tennessee Health Commissioner, says 36% of the state’s cases are among children, when historically that number is in the 10 to 15% range. She says the biggest increase is in 5 to 13-year-olds.
Montgomery says most kids do well with the virus, but the cases she’s seen in August are different than last fall. Kids have been more sick with the Delta variant.
Governor Bill Lee still has no plans to expand virtual learning options and will keep the parent mask opt out option in place. Lee was pressed on these issues at a press conference Wednesday.
Lee says the best way to protect your child from the virus and quarantining is masking at school. But fully believes that’s a decision that needs to be made by parents.
Montgomery encourages children to stay home if they are sick until it’s determined to not be COVID and to make an appointment with their pediatrician.
Three fully stocked straw barns in Polk County caught fire Thursday morning at Weaver Farms.
The owner spoke with Channel 3, explaining that he estimates that about $1-million worth of wheat straw was lost in the blaze.
The owner said he was out to get breakfast when the fire started. A passerby smelled smoke and Weaver came back to find the fire quickly spreading from barn to barn.
The farm also suffered a lightning strike about 10 years ago, causing a similar fire, according to the owner and the fire department. Weaver rebuilt after that blaze.
Firefighters will let the fire burn itself out, and simply work to keep it contained.
The cause of the fire will be investigated.
Weaver Farms is a wheat straw supplier in the area.
Blood Assurance has resumed voluntary COVID-19 antibody testing and the collection of convalescent plasma.
The practice was suspended last April but reinstated due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
Individuals donating blood, whether on a bloodmobile or at a facility, will have the option to be tested for the antibodies. If antibodies are discovered, the donor will be notified within about two weeks, paving the way for a voluntary convalescent plasma donation to help those battling the virus.
The experimental treatment may provide passive immunity for certain COVID-19 patients.
To be eligible to donate blood, you must be at least 17 years old, weigh 110 pounds or more and be in good health.
