DeKalb County was included on a “daily hotspot triage” report distributed by the Department of Homeland Security and obtained by ABC News. It identified 98 emerging hot spots in 30 states and 21 of these were considered “new emerging hot spots.”

According to the Tennessee Department of Health, there were 269 total COVID-19 cases in DeKalb County as of Wednesday, July 29. Two weeks ago, the county only had 119 cases, which is a 126% increase during that time period. At press time on Monday, there were 305 total cases with 160 active. This is an increase of 50 new cases since last Monday.

The county of roughly 20,000 people has 159 active cases, according to the state, and one person has died. A total of 4,127 people have been tested since March with 3,858 negative results. One hundred nine persons tested positive have recovered.

With Tennessee in the national spotlight for rising cases, Governor Lee was asked this week about a statewide mask mandate.

“I believe anything done closest to the people is most effective, when it’s possible we ought to make decisions locally that affect local citizens, I think people have trust in their local elected officials,” Lee said.