Health officials urge people under 40 to take COVID-19 serious

The Jackson Madison County Regional Health Department is saying the older population are not the only people who should be concerned.

Nearly half of the confirmed coronavirus cases in tennessee range from newborns to 40 years old.

“For anybody to say ‘I’m young, I’m healthy I can’t get this. That is absolutely not true", says Regional Director for the Jackson Madison County Regional Health Department, Kim Tedford.

Over 18 hundred Tennesseans have tested positive for coronavirus and more than 800 of those cases are people in the younger population.

“There have been a few people say, ‘I’m young, I can’t get this", adds Tedford.

The cases in madison county are between the ages of 23 and 77.

Nearly half of those cases also fall in the under 40 category.

Tedford says, “my personal opinion I do feel like one thing that we see is the mobility of the younger population they are just on the move more and putting themselves out there to where they can be exposed by the virus.”

The Jackson Madison County Regional Health Department received 17 of the 67 tests they took during the drive in testing site.

Only 1 of those 17 tests came back positive. They hope to see more tests come in with in this week and next week. In Jackson for 39 News, I'm Imani Williams.