Shelby County’s latest weekly COVID-19 positivity rate drops to 12.8%

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Shelby County Health Department reported another drop in the weekly positivity rate for the fifth week in a row following a massive surge of omicron cases.

The weekly positivity rate for the week of Jan. 30 dropped to 12.8%, down from the previous week’s rate of 17.1%.

Shelby County COVID-19 daily case reports are on the decline as well. There are 437 new cases with an additional 121 pediatric cases, according to the health department dashboard.

Shelby County also reported another four virus-related deaths.

Though cases are much lower compared to beginning the year, Tennessee is among the top five states in the nation that continue to trend high in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, according to the New York Times

There have been 233,033 confirmed and probable cases in the county with a death toll of 2,992 since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Active cases are at about 5,400 with 1,631 of those among children -- school-aged children also account for 31% of all active cases.

Shelby County is making progress, slowly but surely, towards the goal of “herd immunity.” So far, Shelby County has reached 79.3% of its 700,000 vaccination goal.

Shelby County vaccine data: