Governor Announces Widespread COVID-19 Testing for All Tennesseans, Suggests Schools Remain Closed

Metro Nashville

Nashville reports 1,492 confirmed cases, an increase of 35 cases in the last 24 hours. The number of deaths has risen to 17. Currently, 324 individuals have recovered with 1,151 cases remaining active. The number of positive results continues to be just under 10% (9.8%) of tests taken. To date, 15,293 tests have been administered with 1,492 coming back positive. The city's breakdown of those with confirmed COVID-19 by race are white 49%, black or African American 13%, multiracial or other 12%, Asian 3% and pending 15%

Nashville's community assessment system is available to everyone in Nashville free of charge. Those who believe they have COVID-19 symptoms should call the hotline at 615.862.7777, open 7 days a week from 7 am-7 pm.

Mayor John Cooper encouraged everyone to visit the Community Resource Center at crcnashville.org to see a list of items needed for donation to our neighbors in Chattanooga as they continue recovery efforts following the weekend severe storm damage. He also highlighted the donation of 24,000 'I Believe in Hope' face masks from the I Believe in Nashville team to support the community's COVID-19 response. The masks are also available for purchase with part of the proceeds going to support local, nonprofit organizations. A link to purchase the washable mask is here. The I Believe in Nashville organization has also donated more than $500,000 to the Community Foundation of Tennessee and The Store, the free grocery store founded by Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams Paisley.

Mayor Cooper introduced Leslie Waller, MPH, an epidemiologist with the Metro Public Health Department, to discuss contact tracing. Mayor Cooper noted, "Contact tracing is one of the most important tools we have in Davidson County to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus." He added, "We learn from contact tracing where we can improve our social distancing protocols. Contact tracing slows the spread of the virus by preventing a single case from becoming a cluster of cases. Effective contact tracing is essential to getting us back to work sooner."

Waller noted contact investigations are a core public health tool that have been in use for many years. "They are a first-line defense in controlling the spread of disease," she said, adding the use of contact tracing is particularly important in a virus like COVID-19 where there isn't yet a vaccine. The team has connected with those who have come into contact with individuals that have a positive confirmation for the coronavirus. A little more than half of follow-on cases have come from exposure within a household. "As the number of cases has increased, we have grown our team internally from a humble 4 to more than 40," she said, adding the intention was to continue growing the group as needed moving forward. She added individuals can help in efforts by being cooperative if contacted and noted businesses should have a COVID-19 plan in place that allows them to quickly communicate with the Health Department. "We ask that you consider your contacts and know your exposures as a new way of civic engagement in these strange times," she concluded.

Tennessee State

Tennessee has risen to 6,079 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 135 deaths statewide. The state reporting puts the number of deaths in Davidson County at 19, two more than Metro reported earlier today. There have been at least 663 hospitalizations for COVID-19 across the state, which equals about 11 percent of cases at this point. Additionally, the state reports 2,196 individuals have recovered. Breakdowns by gender show 51% of cases are female, 46% male and 3% of cases are pending identification. By race, currently 49% of those with COVID-19 are white, black or African American 20%, multiracial or other 6%, Asian 1% and pending 24%.

During the April 15 COVID press conference, Governor Lee also expressed his concern and condolences for residents of Southeast Tennessee in the wake of last weekend's severe storms as residents begin the difficult process of recovery.

Turning to the coronavirus response, Gov. Lee officially recommended all schools remain closed for the remainder of the school year. He added the Department of Education will work with local leaders to ensure flexibility for districts. Lee recognized the many challenges the pandemic has placed on families, students and teachers and noted the implications extend beyond academics. "Students have lost a significant amount of learning time, and we are committed to continuing to provide resources that will keep our students engaged over this next several weeks, while that will not be in school buildings."

Recognizing schools and teachers are often on the front lines of caring for students, particularly those most at-risk, he asked the Commissioner of Education to convene a COVID-19 Child Well Being Task Force. He said they would develop a strategy to support local communities to ensure kids are safe.

He also discussed the Unified Command's efforts to rapidly expand COVID-19 testing in Tennessee in pursuit of being able to reboot the economy by understanding how the virus is operating in the state. The expanded testing capacity statewide should enable more Tennesseans to have access to testing. "This increased testing capacity will empower our citizens to make decisions around their health as they consider how it is that they will get back into the workforce as we take steps to open up the economy," he said.

"We need every Tennessean who isn't feeling well to understand that they have access to testing," he continued, adding that the ability to be tested extends even beyond those experiencing the more traditional symptoms of COVID-19 including fever, cough or shortness or breath.

The expanded testing effort will launch this weekend with 15 drive-through testing sites across the state. Drive-through testing sites will also be available the weekend of April 25-26 & May 2-3. Department of Health nurses and Tennessee National Guard medics will conduct the tests. Lee said, "The results are projected to be delivered within 72 hours of testing." In addition, free testing is available weekdays at health departments across every county.

"We encourage every Tennessean who isn't feeling well or who has come in contact with someone who has had COVID-19 to get a test." He continued, "When in doubt, get a test."

National

Senator Lamar Alexander also highlighted the importance of testing. He offered the following statement on Wednesday:

"Without more tests with quick results, it will be difficult to contain this disease and give Americans confidence to go back to work and back to school. In the last month, Congress has given federal agencies up to $38 billion to develop tests, treatments, and vaccines. Nothing is more important than finding a new diagnostic technology that will make it possible to test tens of millions of Americans, something our country has never tried to do before. We should start by using the money Congress has already provided, put politics aside, and work together on more tests with quick results."