Health officials warn Madison county residents to be cautious as case numbers rise

The Jackson Madison County Regional health department reported more than 240 cases this morning with a recovery rate of about 83%.

And director of the department, Kim Tedford, says that number will go up more.

“And I am going to tell you right now that tomorrow you are going to see that number increase again", says Tedford.

The cases jumped up by 14 patients in a day.

Tedford says most of the cases they are seeing are community spread.

Tedford adds,“We are seeing with these cases, community spread. We’ve got several cases that we cannot pinpoint their exposure.”

West Tennessee Healthcare is taking a close look at the rising numbers as they now have nearly 30 COVID positive patients at the Jackson Madison County General Hospital.

But only 5 of those patients are Madison county residents.

“It is concerning, we serve 19 counties across west Tennessee and southeast Missouri and of course we have several facilities and they are all capable of taking care of COVID-19 patients, but a majority of the time most of the patients end up here at Jackson Madison County General, because we have so many specialized services", says West Tennessee Healthcare spokesperson, Amy Garner.

Health departments near Madison county are mandating mask wearing in public, Tedford says she has the authority to make that same order, but she does not plan on doing that.

Imani Williams for 39 news in Jackson.