COVID Cases Continue Climbing

65 in ICU, Tying All-time High

According to Hamilton County Health Department statistics, 790 new cases of COVID-19 were reported over the three-day period of Saturday through Monday. The total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic now stands at 52,313.

Two more deaths were attributed to COVID-19 over the weekend. The total number of people who have perished rose to 543

The number of people hospitalized has risen and on Monday 241 people were hospitalized. This figure is the highest since Dec. 31, 2020 when 252 people were hospitalized. The number of patients in Intensive Care climbed to 65, matching an all-time record set on Jan. 8.

There have been 3,112 cases reported in East Ridge since the beginning of the pandemic. The current number of cases stood at 155. However, that number has not been updated by the health department since Aug. 20.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.