As the weekend approaches, Nashville prepares to move into a new phase of reopening come Oct. 1. Although the mask mandate may well stay in effect until a vaccine becomes widely available next year, Mayor John Cooper and the COVID Task Force have announced an easing of restrictions on social gatherings and businesses in the wake of decreasing case trends.

Bars and restaurants can operate at 50 percent capacity up to 100 people per floor, attractions can conduct tours with groups of 25, and parties of eight can now book a table at a restaurant. Weddings can also expand their guest list. Venues are allowed to host events at 30 percent of capacity, not to exceed 500 people max, but the event plan requires prior approval from the Metro Health Department for gatherings of more than 25 people. The Titans and Grand Ole Opry have both secured such approval with fans slated to return next month.

Although Nashville's response to reopening has come under fire from some in the local hospitality industry ... and more recently, from Gov. Bill Lee, the city has seen a sustained decline in transmission rates. Numerous other communities in the state, however, have seen an uptick in cases with a quicker return to 'business as usual' and no mask mandate.

Metro Nashville

As of 9:30 today, the city reported 28,415 confirmed cases, an increase of 23 over the last 24 hours. There are currently 910 active cases in Nashville, 27,237 inactive or recovered cases, and 103 active hospitalizations. With 268 deaths, the city has a case fatality rate of 0.94%. In Davidson County, 365,761 tests have been administered with a positive rate of 7.8%. The 7-day average for positive tests is 4% as of today (down from 6.6% on Sept. 3, 5.5% on Sept. 13 and 4.3% on Sept. 23).

On the trend lines, Nashville now has 4 out of 8 in the green with the remaining metrics in the yellow. With a goal for transmission to be less than 1.0, the city's current transmission rate is 1.02. The 14-day case rate remains in the green with a decreasing trend in new cases. Public health and testing capacity remain in the green, as they have throughout.

As of 9:30 am this morning, hospital floor bed capacity remained in the yellow with 15% availability, and ICU beds returned to yellow with 19% capacity. The goal for both hospital and ICU bed capacity is 20%.

The New Cases per 100K Residents remains in the yellow this week. The goal of the seven-day rolling average is to be at 10 or below. Currently, Nashville sits at 13.36 on this metric (down from 15.2 earlier this week). The goal for the 7-Day Positivity Rate is to see a figure at 10% or less. Currently, Nashville remains in the green with a rate of 4% as of 9:30 this morning.

More detailed data is available on the Metro Dashboard. Click here for details.

Nashville's mask mandate continues alongside loosened restrictions for gatherings and increased capacity numbers in restaurants and bars.

Tennessee State

This afternoon, the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) confirmed 1,910 new cases of COVID-19 today with the state total hitting 189,454 (up 5,045 since Monday afternoon). There are currently 692 hospitalizations (down 82 from yesterday) and 2,352 deaths (up 42 in 24 hours) for a death rate of 1.24. More than 2.75 million tests have been administered statewide (up 33,296 since yesterday). The number of inactive/recovered cases statewide is 172,618.