Like a disappointed father, Gov. Bill Lee is frustrated with all of us. He's sad Tennesseans have acted selfishly and have not voluntarily worn masks or changed their habits dramatically enough to turn the tide on the pandemic. He's embarrassed that Tennessee is #1 in the nation in terms of new cases per 100,000 over the last seven days. Tennessee's rate for the last week is 129.4. The next closest state, Oklahoma, comes in at 98. The U.S. average for cases per 100,000 over the last week is 64.8 ... so we are literally double the national average.
While the governor is disappointed, embarrassed and frustrated by our collective actions, he isn't upset enough to take any action of his own ... outside of a sternly worded lecture. During a press conference on Thursday, the governor said, "Every Tennessean ought to wear a mask." But once again, Gov. Lee failed to mandate it.
Metro Nashville
As of 9:30 today, the city reported 59,883 confirmed cases, an increase of 944 in 24 hours. There are currently 6,315 active cases in Nashville, 53,142 inactive or recovered cases and 502 active hospitalizations. With 426 deaths (8 since yesterday), the city has a case fatality rate of 0.71%. In Davidson County, 744,386 tests have been administered with an overall positive rate of 9.5% (and a 7-day testing percent positive of 15.9%).
Out of 8 metrics on the trend lines, Nashville has 2 in the green, 1 in the yellow and 5 in the red - transmission rate, 14-day new case trend, hospital ICU bed capacity, new cases per 100,000 residents and seven-day positivity rate. With a goal for transmission to be less than 1.00, the city's current transmission rate of 1.31. The 14-day case trend has returned to the red with new cases categorized as increasing. 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 10% availability, and ICU beds are in the red with current availability at 6% capacity. The goal for both hospital and ICU bed capacity is 20%. In his remarks yesterday, Mayor John Cooper noted Nashville serves as a regional healthcare hub with many hospital and ICU beds filled with COVID patients from outside of Davidson County. He added that while Nashville has a mask mandate, many rural areas around us do not and noted the city isn't an island.
The New Cases per 100K Residents has remained in the red for the last few weeks but has taken a sharp uptick over the last few days. The goal of the seven-day rolling average is to be less than 10. Currently, Nashville sits at 92.4 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 is now in the red with a rate of 15.9%.
More detailed data is available on the Metro Dashboard. Click here for details.
Nashville remains in a modified Phase 3 of COVID Reopening with new restrictions having been put in place over the last couple of weeks, including the Rule of 8 for indoor gatherings without a pre-approved event plan. 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 State
As of this afternoon, the Tennessee Department of Health is shifting daily data updates to 5 pm Central. Numbers will therefore be updated in the mornings when we update Metro information ... which means readers will view today's Nashville info and yesterday's state info.
Today, the TDH launched their new vaccine dashboard providing data on COVID-19 vaccines administered in the state at www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov/covid-19-vaccine-information.html. This dashboard will be updated each Tuesday and Friday.