KCHD says county will be able to test 90 people per day starting Monday

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knox County Health Department officials announced Friday the county now has 154 confirmed cases of covid-19 

That's up 2 from Thursday.

Of those confirmed cases, 115 have recovered, meaning they're out of isolation. They weren't necessarily in the hospital.

The department will also add two new categories to their online COVID-19 database. There will now be a race and ethnicity category, and a ZIP code category. 

The public can look at their data here.

Beginning Monday, KCHD also said the county would have the capability to test 90 people per day. That's an increase from the 15 to 20 they have been able to do a day.

There've been four deaths so far in Knox County of Knox County residents because of the virus. Authorities have determined that a fifth person who died here was from another state, so that number will be counted there, Menefee said.

RELATED: Wear a mask? They're popping up everywhere, even on famous faces

RELATED: Public and private funding will support Zoo Knoxville through the end of June

RELATED: Knox Co. reporting 154 confirmed coronavirus cases with 115 already recovered

RELATED: East Tennessee teen cashier pays for grocery bill for struggling senior citizen

RELATED: Records: Knoxville Expo Center no longer needed to house coronavirus patients

"We will continue to test Monday thru Friday at the Health Department. You can call our info line to receive an appointment," said Charity Menefee, director of communicable and environmental disease and emergency preparedness with KCHD. 

The phone bank will be closed Sunday.

Menefee added the while the county is seeing a slow rate of increase in cases, it is still a steady increase. 

“We can’t say the worst is behind us while we’re continuing to see an increase in cases everyday,” she said.

A local task force that's planning for a possible "surge" in cases also wants to continue preparedness efforts in case there's a sharp uptick and greater need to extra beds in the county.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is continuing to eye the old Knoxville Center mall as a possible place to set up patient beds, as 10News reported Thursday, even though the state has now said it doesn't think a temporary center will be needed at the Knoxville Expo Center on Clinton Highway.

Menefee said the county regularly keeps in touch with neighboring counties.

"We talk regularly with everybody in our region, and we talk to the state regularly," she said. "I think that across board we're seeing that social distancing has been doing good job of slowing the rate of increase of illness in our area."