Tennessee declared "ground zero" for COVID-19 infection

Hailie Pippin - Senior / Peyton Purgiel - Junior | News

Many people have called 2020 the worst year of all time, but so far, 2021 isn’t much better. It has been recorded that Tennessee has the highest rate for Coronavirus infections of any state in the United States in the last couple weeks. Governor Bill Lee declared Tennessee “ground zero” for America’s surge in COVID-19 cases.

To be clear, Tennessee doesn’t have the highest number of people infected with COVID-19, but has the highest rate. This means that per 100,000 people, Tennessee has the highest number of new cases. This creates a percentage rate for how many new cases the state has for its population.

California’s rate of infection is 111.2 per 100,000 people, with a population of 39.51 million people. Tennessee’s population is 6.829 million people, but our rate of infection is higher by 16.7 people on average. California has a population 6 times that of Tennessee, while maintaining a lower infection rate.

Governor Bill Lee published a video instructing Tennesseans to wear face masks and spend the holidays with “your immediate household.” Although the Governor recommends taking precautions against COVID-19, he has not issued any mandates to support these safety measures.

Recently, the coronavirus vaccine has been issued to healthcare workers and teachers were given the option to take the vaccine. Some of the general public has also received the vaccine and more opportunities will become available. To give more people the chance to receive the vaccine, a dose has no cost except for a possible fee to the vaccine providers.