Metro Extends Safer At Home Order

Metro Nashville

After a large jump in cases over the weekend, Nashville's number of new COVID-19 cases slowed over the last 24 hours. Nashville now reports 1,936 confirmed cases, an increase of 33 in the past 24 hours. The number of deaths has risen to 22, while 987 individuals have recovered and 927 cases remain active. The number of positive results sits at nearly 11% (10.6%) of tests taken. To date, 18,198 tests have been administered with 1,936 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%.

Mayor John Cooper has extended the city's current Safer At Home order to May 1, after which the mayor said a phased reopening of the city could begin. However, he noted any decisions would be dependent on facts.

"Data and science will drive when we reopen, and we hope that will be in early May," concurred Metro Coronavirus Task Force Chair Alex Jahangir, MD, MHHC. Asked about the impact Governor Bill Lee's announcement that 89 of the state's 95 counties would begin rolling out openings next week would have on Nashville, particularly if surrounding counties reopen, Jahangir said he was hopeful the regional mayors would work in conjunction with Davidson County in much the same way as happened with stay-at-home measures.

In other local news, the city is now mirroring the state in allowing those who are symptom-free to be tested for the novel coronavirus. 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.

Tennessee State

Tennessee now has 7,394 confirmed COVID-19 cases, a jump of 156 cases in the last 24 hours. Deaths rose from 152 to 157 statewide during the same time period. There have been at least 760 hospitalizations for COVID-19 across the state, which equals 14% of known cases at this point. Additionally, the state reports 3,828 individuals have recovered. Breakdowns by gender show 50.4% of cases are female, 46.7% male and 2.9% of cases are pending identification. By race, currently 47.8% of those with COVID-19 are white, 21.4% black or African American, 6.2% multiracial or other, 2% Asian and 22.6% pending.

After spiking on April 16th, the trend line of daily case counts has plateaued or trended downward since then. Over the weekend, 33 drive-through testing sites across the state provided 11,200 tests. Most of those results are not yet available. Drive-through testing will be available again this coming weekend and May 2-3.