As healthcare workers prepare for the surge on surge expected post-Christmas, the effects of Thanksgiving celebrations are still being felt nationwide.
Vaccines have begun being distributed nationally with residents in skilled nursing facilities and healthcare workers being first on the list. After not initially getting a vaccine supply, Meharry's incredible physicians, residents and staff, who have tirelessly provided testing for the city, have now received vaccines with the help of HCA, which shared from their supply. Having been tested twice at Meharry, I can say from personal experience how terrific the team has been ... professional, cheerful and kind ... never complaining as they put themselves in harm's way. The irony, of course, is that Dr. James Hildreth was on the advisory panel that recommended the Pfizer vaccine for approval. The state's plan evidently called for 'smaller' organizations to receive doses of the Moderna vaccine ... but it is unconscionable that Meharry, under the leadership of Dr. Hildreth, wasn't among the first to receive the vaccine in light of the role they have played locally and nationally.
Metro Nashville
As of 9:30 today, the city reported 63,944 confirmed cases, an increase of 422 in 24 hours. There are currently 7,239 active cases in Nashville, 56,256 inactive or recovered cases and 494 active hospitalizations. With 449 deaths (an increase of 23 over the last five days), the city has a case fatality rate of 0.7%. In Davidson County, 774,004 tests have been administered with an overall positive rate of 9.7% (and a 7-day testing percent positive of 16.6%).
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 1.23. 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 15% availability (an improvement from five days ago when availability sat at 10%), and ICU beds are in the red with current availability at 7% capacity. The goal for both hospital and ICU bed capacity is 20%. In his remarks yesterday,
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 97.9 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 16.6%.
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.
Tennessee State
Governor Bill Lee, who is currently quarantining after his wife tested positive for COVID-19, extended the Tennessee State of Emergency tied to COVID-19 through Feb. 27. Despite growing calls from healthcare providers, public health officials and some elected officials, the governor continued to decline to implement a statewide mask mandate ... while Tennessee makes national and world news for its current per capita infection rates. In his press conference, the governor stressed individual cities and counties have the ability to establish and enforce mask mandates. Earlier in the week, Gov. Lee signed EO 70, limiting the number of people who can gather indoors to 10. However, weddings, funerals and churches are all exempt from the order.
As of yesterday afternoon (new numbers won't be released until the end of the work day), Tennessee had 534,019 cases of the virus (up 4,441 from the day before). Currently, there are 2,888 hospitalizations (a net increase of 117 in the 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday afternoon) and 6,269 deaths (up 133 in 24 hours, the second deadliest day during the pandemic). Currently, the state death rate stands at 1.17%, nearly 60% higher than Nashville's death rate but on par with the national death rate. Available hospital capacity statewide is 15% for floor beds (1,676 available) and 9% for ICU beds (182 available). As of yesterday afternoon, state had performed more than 5.3 million tests (up 16,026 in 24 hours) with a positivity rate of 19.63 for the day.
The Tennessee Department of Health 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 is scheduled to be updated each Tuesday and Friday. As of the latest update, 24,236 vaccinations had been reported.