The Shelby County Health Department confirmed its first death related to the coronavirus Saturday morning, as the number of local cases rose to 275.
An area hospital did not return a request for confirmation of the death as of the time of this posting.
Just this week, the health department released data on the total number of people who have been tested for the virus in Shelby County—nearly 3,000, with about a 10 percent positivity rate to date. Previously, health officials said they did not know the total number of tests administered because private labs only had to report positive results to the state. Gov. Bill Lee asked private labs to begin disclosing complete data last week.
Officials are increasingly making desperate pleas to citizens to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines. On Friday, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland tightened his local "safer-at-home" order, closing all athletic fields, basketball courts and dog parks. He warned that people congregating in public spaces should maintain their physical distance or he may close all parks.
After meeting with both the city and county mayors, Gov. Lee did his daily afternoon briefing at the Memphis International Airport Friday.
"This is a very serious issue that will profoundly affect the health and in some cases, the lives of Tennesseans," Lee said. "We have already lost Tennesseans to this virus, and we will lose more to the degree...that you can do your part to stay apart."
State Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey joined Lee at the conference, noting a "disturbing" trend of infection rates among younger populations, who are typically less vulnerable to poor outcomes from the virus.
"Even though you might think that 'I''ll get through this, and it won't affect me as badly,' it can affect you and it certainly will affect others," she said.
In Shelby County, about 60 percent of infections are among those between ages 20 and 60.
Dr. Jeffrey Wright, medical director of critical care at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, is one of dozens of doctors asking the governor to restrict the movement of residents through a statewide "shelter-at-home" order. Wright treats COVID-19 patients and is concerned that people under 40 are getting the wrong message.
“It’s still a very life-threatening illness, and we’ve seen young people here who are gravely and critically ill who didn’t have pre-existing medical problems,” he said.
As of Saturday morning, six people in Tennessee have died from COVID-19 and 1,200 have been infected.