It's been nearly a week since we last logged a COVID-19 update. We hope everyone had a safe, small Thanksgiving. A huge 'Thank You!' to all those who worked over the holiday to care for patients.
Numbers continue to worsen across the state, and Thanksgiving gatherings are anticipated to cause a 'surge in a surge' in the coming weeks. Hospital capacities remain concerning, particularly ICU beds. When we last reported on Nov. 25th, Nashville had 43,941 confirmed cases in the city. Today ... six days later ... that number is 47,160. On the plus side, active hospitalizations are actually down since last week, and the city has only logged four additional deaths ... although any death is one too many!
Individuals looking to be tested at one of the city's three community assessment centers should note changes in hours this week. Today's hours are 11 am-3 pm. Wed.-Thurs. will be 9 am-3 pm, and Fri. is 8 am-2 pm. In addition, testing will be held at Gra-Mar Middle today and Cockrill Elementary tomorrow from 3-6 pm. On Fri., a testing site will be set up at Nancy Webb Methodist Church. Tests are free. To direct patients to updated testing hours and sites, please have them go online to asafenashville.org.
Metro Nashville
As of 9:30 today, the city reported 47,160 confirmed cases, an increase of 851 since yesterday. There are currently 3,281 active cases in Nashville, 43,510 inactive or recovered cases and 399 active hospitalizations. With 369 deaths, the city has a case fatality rate of 0.79%. In Davidson County, 658,557 tests have been administered with an overall positive rate of 8.7% (and a 7-day testing percent positive of 10.3%).
Out of 8 metrics on the trend lines, Nashville has 2 in the green, 3 in the yellow and 3 in the red - 14-day new case trend, ICU bed capacity, and new cases per 100,000 residents. With a goal for transmission to be less than 1.00, the city's current transmission rate of 1.08 is in the yellow. The 14-day case trend is in the red with new cases rising. 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 18% availability, and ICU beds are in the red with current availability at 9% capacity. The goal for both hospital and ICU bed capacity is 20%.
The New Cases per 100K Residents has remained in the red for the last few weeks. The goal of the seven-day rolling average is to be less than 10. Currently, Nashville sits at 71.5 as of 9:30 am this morning. The goal for the 7-Day Positivity Rate is to see a figure at 10% or less. Currently, Nashville remains in the yellow with a rate of 10.3%.
More detailed data is available on the Metro Dashboard. Click here for details.
Nashville remains in Phase 3 of COVID Reopening with new restrictions having been put in place last week. The city also continues its mask mandate, with several nearby counties having reinstated similar mandates after letting them expire earlier. Governor Bill Lee extended the Tennessee State of Emergency tied to COVID-19 through Dec. 29.
Tennessee Stat
As of this afternoon, the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) confirmed an additional 5,693 new cases of COVID-19 with the state total hitting 380,186 (an increase of 32,214 over the last six days for an average of more than 5,000 cases daily). There are currently 2,369 hospitalizations (up 40 since yesterday) and 4,638 deaths (up 36 in 24 hours) for a death rate of 1.22. A little more than 4.5 million tests have been administered statewide (up 35,935 in 24 hours) with a 15.17% positive rate for the day. The number of inactive/recovered cases statewide is 336,131 as of this afternoon.