COVID Concerns Rising in DeKalb County

September 1, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

COVID concerns are rising in DeKalb County

DeKalb County had 354 active COVID 19 cases Tuesday, August 31, a big jump from 212 on Monday, August 23 and an even larger spike from the 119 cases on Friday, August 13. Fifty one new cases were recorded in DeKalb County on Tuesday alone.

At last report a total of 7,692 people (37.5%) have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine and 6,364 (31.1%) are fully vaccinated in DeKalb County.

There have been 59 deaths in DeKalb County (up by 2 within the past week) since the pandemic began in March 2020 and 92 have been hospitalized.

Over the last seven days, (August 24 – 30) DeKalb County had a case count of 233 for a daily case rate of 162.4 per 100,000 residents.

For the most recent 14 days, (August 17-30) DeKalb County’s case count was 391 for a daily case rate of 136.3 per 100,000 residents.

For the 14 days prior (August 3 to August 16), the case count was 121 for a daily case rate of 42.2 per 100, 000 residents.

From March 5, 2020 to August 30, 2021, DeKalb County has had a total of 3,445 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 for a daily case rate of 31 per 100,000 residents.

Over the last 7 days DeKalb County has averaged 75.6 tests per day (368.8 tests per 100,000 residents) and over the last 7 days the average percent positive was 35.7 %.

The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) wants to remind Tennesseans that COVID-19 vaccines are the best defense in preventing the continued spread of the virus. Vaccination rates across the state have increased over the last month as the state experiences a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the highly contagious Delta variant.

Individuals seeking more information on the COVID-19 vaccines can visit covid19.tn.gov or www.vaccines.gov to schedule an appointment with a local vaccine provider.

August 31, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Redistricting Committee will meet next week to begin the process of preparing a redistricting plan for the county based on results of the 2020 Census count. The meeting will be Tuesday, September 7 at 6 p.m. in the first floor courtroom of the courthouse. The redistricting plan must be completed and in the hands of the county commission by no later than October 25.

This will be the committee’s first meeting since it convened to organize in July.

In May the county commission appointed the Redistricting Committee which consists of eleven members including seven county commissioners, two school board members, the county mayor, and the administrator of elections.

Upon the recommendation of County Mayor Tim Stribling, the committee voted in July to name Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley as Chairman. Fifth District County Commissioner Anita Puckett was selected as Vice Chairman and 4th District Commissioner Janice Fish-Stewart is the Secretary.

In addition to County Mayor Stribling and Administrator of Elections Stanley, members of the Redistricting committee are County Commissioners Shaee Flatt from the 1st district, Myron Rhody- 2nd district, Susannah Cripps Daughtry- 3rd district, Janice Fish-Stewart- 4th district, Anita Puckett – 5th district, Matt Adcock – 6th district, and Bruce Malone from the 7th district. The two school board members appointed are Jim Beshearse of the 3rd district and Shaun Tubbs of the 7th district.

By law the county commission district boundary lines must be redrawn every 10 years following completion of the United States census. The federal government stipulates that districts must have nearly equal populations and must not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Matthew Hill, senior GIS Specialist for the TN Comptroller’s office, will be assisting the redistricting committee in preparing a plan to recommend to the county commission which has the final say on redistricting. The approved plan then goes to the election commission to redraw precinct boundary lines so that voters and candidates for the 2022 elections know in which districts and precincts they reside.

Based on the census numbers wholesale changes are not required. Districts 2 & 6 may need to gain more residents because they haven’t grown as much as others over the last 10 years while districts 3 & 7 may need to lose a few residents because they have grown too much. Overall there can be no more than a 10% deviation in population.

Although by law, redistricting for each county must be completed by January 1, 2022 , it needs to be done before the election commission begins issuing candidate petitions December 18 for the 2022 local primaries. That also gives the election commission time to set their voting precincts and update their voter rolls.

August 31, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

As Tennesseans continue to rejoin the workforce, all but one of the state’s 95 counties experienced lower unemployment in July, according to new data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Sixty-two counties had unemployment rates lower than 5%, while rates were 5% or higher, but less than 10%, in 32 counties including DeKalb at 5.2%. Unemployment was above 10% in one county.

DeKalb County’s Labor Force for July was 7,673 while 7,275 were employed leaving 398 without work for a rate of 5.2% but that was down from the jobless rate for June of 6.3% and below the rate for July, 2020 of 9.3%.

Williamson County continued to record the lowest unemployment numbers in the state with a rate of 2.7%, down 0.7 of a percentage point from its June statistic. Moore County had Tennessee’s second-lowest unemployment rate for July at 3%, down 0.7 of a percentage point when compared to the previous month.

Perry was the only county with a jobless number of over 10%. Its July rate of 10.4% represented a 2.6 percentage point drop from its June rate of 13%. Shelby County had the state’s second-highest rate for the month at 7.5%, which was 0.6 percentage point lower than the June rate.

Weakley was the only county to experience an increase in unemployment. Its rate inched upward during the month from 5.2% to 5.5%.

County unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted to factor in seasonal economic influences.
The statewide unemployment situation improved for the second consecutive month. Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted July rate of 4.7% was 0.2 of a percentage point lower than June’s revised rate of 4.9%.

The unemployment situation also improved nationally in July, but still came in higher than Tennessee’s rate. The seasonally adjusted rate for the United States dropped 0.5 of a percentage point to 5.4%.

The state of Tennessee is working to make job seekers TN Work Ready. Individuals can find the resources needed to search for jobs, earn a high school equivalency diploma, and remove barriers to work at www.TNWorkready.com.

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