After seeing steadying rates of community spread, Nashville prepares for bars to reopen today with limited capacity and new rules. Bars and limited service restaurants may reopen with social distancing up to a max of 25 patrons. All restaurants and bars must close at 10:30 pm, according to Mayor Cooper's modified phase 2 plan that goes into effect on Monday, Aug. 17. Live entertainment is permitted but dance floors must reman closed.
While some bar owners were excited to reopen their doors, others have opted to remain closed. With the 25-person limitation (as opposed to a % of capacity), a number of bar owners have said the revenue generated by so few patrons wouldn't offset the standard overhead costs to open their doors.
Metro Nashville
As of 9:30 today, the city reported 24,388 confirmed cases, an increase of 245 over the last 24 hours. There are currently 2,821 active cases in Nashville, 21,352 individuals who have recovered and 121 active hospitalizations (down 45 since last Wednesday). With 215 deaths, the city has a case fatality rate of 0.88%.
In Davidson County, 197,327 tests have been administered with a positive rate of 12.4% (up from 10.7% on July 1 and 9.4% on June 1). Of note, the 7-day average for positive tests is 12.4% as of today - down from 13.1% in the middle of last week.
On the trend lines, the transmission rate is in the green. With a goal for transmission to be less than 1.0, the city has a current transmission rate of 0.87 (up from 0.80 last Wednesday). The 14-day case rate is also in the green with a decreasing trend in new cases. Public health and testing capacity remain in the green, as they have throughout.
Hospital floor bed capacity remains in the yellow with 18% availability as of 9:30 am (up from 14% availability in the middle of last week). ICU beds also remain in the yellow with 14% current capacity (up from 10% last Wednesday). The goal for both hospital and ICU bed capacity is 20%.
The New Cases per 100K Residents remains in the red. The goal of the seven-day rolling average is to be at 10 or below. As of 9:30 this morning, Nashville sits at 29.4 on this metric. The goal for the 7-Day Positivity Rate is to see a figure at 10% or less. Currently, Nashville is in the yellow with a rate of 12.4%
More detailed data is available on the Metro Dashboard. Click here for details.
Masks are required in Nashville, and a number of other surrounding counties have also begun instituting mandatory mask regulations. Additionally, public health officials continue to ask (beg) residents to be vigilant in maintaining social distancing measures, as well as to go out as little as possible, wash hands frequently and stay home if ill. Metro police are authorized to issue civil citations to those who fail to comply with the mask mandate unless the individual has a specific exemption.
Tennessee State
The state reports 134,744 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of 1,036 cases since yesterday. There have been 5,881 hospitalized (an increase of 34 in 24 hours), 1,387 deaths (up 21 since yesterday) and 94,812 Tennesseans have recovered from the virus (up 2,157 since yesterday). The state has conducted nearly 1.87 million tests (up 13,746 in 24 hours). Tennessee's COVID-19 death rate stands at 1.03%.