382 Active COVID Cases in East Ridge

The Hamilton County Health Department reported 571 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total number of people to have contracted the virus in the county since the beginning of the pandemic to 75,128.

The health department reported that 4,457 people in East Ridge have contracted COVID. Active cases were updated on Friday showing that 382 people in our city categorized as such, a ten-fold jump since the middle of December.

The health department reported 867 people have died from COVID, a jump of 92 in a single day. However, the following statement was on the health department’s Website to explain the large increase: The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) is reporting a large increase in the number of deaths for Hamilton County residents today. This is due to the review of death certificates by the Office of the State Chief Medical Examiner (OCSME) which has resulted in these additional deaths being identified. This backlog largely coincided with the delta surge, and the majority of these deaths occurred since August 1, 2021.

Hospitalizations climbed to 181 with 42 patients in area hospital ICUs. There are 6,268 active cases across Hamilton County.

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.