With insurrection dominating the news, it was easy for the average American to forget ... for a moment ... where the fight against COVID stands. The U.S. now stands at 22.5 million cases and 375,000 American lives lost to this virus. In fact, the country is now averaging more than 3,000 deaths a day.

President-elect Biden has announced his plan to release all vaccines for first shots instead of the current plan to hold back vaccines for second shots. The decision comes amid the slow vial-to-arm rate, but it isn't clear how having more vials of vaccine on hand will speed up the process of getting those vials out of refrigeration and into the arms of Americans.

Metro Nashville

As of 9:30 today, the city reported 77,733 confirmed cases, an increase of 854 in 24 hours. There are currently 8,531 active cases in Nashville, 67,684 inactive or recovered cases and 557 active hospitalizations. With 518 deaths, the city has a case fatality rate of 0.67%. In Davidson County, 853,211 tests have been administered with an overall positive rate of 10.4% (and a 7-day testing percent positive of 19%).

Out of 8 metrics on the trend lines, Nashville has 3 in the green, 1 in the yellow and 4 in the red - 14-day new case trend, ICU bed capacity, new cases per 100,000 residents and seven-day positivity. With a goal for transmission to be less than 1.00, the city's current transmission rate is in the green at 0.99. The 14-day case trend continues in 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 16% availability, while ICU beds have dropped to some of the lowest levels we've seen at 8% 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 96.1 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 in the red with a rate of 19%.

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 February 27.

Vaccinations are in the 1a1/1a2/75+ phase, which means high exposure healthcare workers, long term care residents and staff, first responders, those ages 75 and older, outpatient healthcare workers and mortuary workers should be, or will soon be, eligible for vaccines. With attention turned toward vaccination, assessment sites are closed currently on weekends.

Tennessee State

Today's info will be updated when it becomes available.

As of yesterday afternoon, the Tennessee Department of Health reported 653,869 cases of COVID-19 across the state (up 7,419 from the day before) with 565,197 cases defined as recovered or inactive. Currently, there are 3,085 hospitalizations (a net decrease of 137 over the previous day), and 7,785 deaths from the virus statewide (an increase of 81 in 24 hours) for a death rate of 1.19. The state has conducted just over 5.8 million tests (an increase of 37,062 in 24 hours) with a 16.31% positivity rate for the day. Hospital capacities stand at 17% of floor beds (1,947 beds) and 11% of ICU beds (215 beds) available statewide.

For information on vaccination distribution, visit the TDH vaccine dashboard at www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov/covid-19-vaccine-information.html. This dashboard is updated each Tuesday and Friday.