Ten Warren County residents died from COVID-19 over the past week, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.

The local death toll now stands at 43 Warren County residents.

That translates to a fatality rate of slightly more than 1 in 1,000 as our county has 41,277 residents, according to U.S. census figures.

The Warren County Health Department opened COVID vaccinations to anyone age 75 and older on Saturday morning with a lengthy line of cars. The line stretched down Sparta Street to the traffic light at the mall and extended all the way past the Sheriff's Department and the railroad tracks on the bypass.

"It was nearly to Red Road when we got in line at 7:30 a.m. and it didn't open till 8:30 a.m.," said Tommy Savage who took his mother-in-law. "It was a tremendous turnout and they handled it well. It only took about an hour once the line started moving at 8:30 a.m. The Health Department really did a great job."

Healthcare professionals, first-responders and teachers have already been given a chance to receive the vaccine locally.

The open vaccinations for those 75 and older come as the Centers for Disease Control has issued a grim forecast for January, indicating over 80,000 Americans could die from the virus.

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine at George Washington University, told CNN there needs to be mass vaccination events around the nation to stop the spread.

“We need large events at football stadiums and racetracks,” he said, noting there are 10 million vaccine doses sitting on shelves around the country.

There was shock around the globe in March when Italy reported 793 people had died from COVID-19 in just one day.

Fast forward to the end of 2020 and the United States has reported nearly five times that number of COVID deaths in a single day. The U.S. recorded a global record of 3,740 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, Dec. 30, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.