The Tennessee Department of Health has updated the Tennessee COVID-19 Vaccination Plan and announced age-based vaccinations will begin.

"COVID-19 vaccines remain limited at this time, and Tennessee's allocation plan prioritizes those most at risk of illness and death from COVID-19," said Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey, MD, MBA, FAAP. "The plan also prioritizes critical infrastructure workers who have direct public exposure or work in environments posing a higher risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19."

Updates to the Tennessee COVID-19 Vaccination Plan are focused on reducing risks:

• Risk to our health care infrastructure - keeping frontline health care workers at the bedside, while reducing demand on hospital capacity
• Risk to individual health outcomes - protecting the most vulnerable Tennesseans first
• Risk to our society and economy - preserving the workforce in our highest risk areas

Tennessee has updated the state's plan based on new recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and discussions with Tennessee's Unified Command Group and a stakeholder group of more than 30 partner agencies and organizations. See related article for more detail.

Metro Nashville

As of 9:30 today, the city reported 67,644 confirmed cases, an increase of 363 in 24 hours. There are currently 6,412 active cases in Nashville, 60,759 inactive or recovered cases and 516 active hospitalizations. With 473 deaths, the city has a case fatality rate of 0.7%. In Davidson County, 799,544 tests have been administered with an overall positive rate of 9.9% (and a 7-day testing percent positive of 14.7%).

Out of 8 metrics on the trend lines, Nashville has 2 in the green, 4 in the yellow and 2 in the red - 14-day new case trend and new cases per 100,000 residents - which is an improvement from a week ago with 4 metrics in the red. With a goal for transmission to be less than 1.00, the city's current transmission rate of 1.09. 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 14% availability (down from 19% availability on Monday), and ICU beds have a current availability of 12% capacity (down from 15% on Monday). 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 but has taken a sharp uptick recently. The goal of the seven-day rolling average is to be less than 10. Currently, Nashville sits at 96.6 (up from 91.2 on Monday). The goal for the 7-Day Positivity Rate is to see a figure at 10% or less. Currently, Nashville is in the yellow with a rate of 14.5% (down slightly from 15% on Monday).

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.

Tennessee State

As of this afternoon, the Tennessee Department of Health reported 580,809 cases of COVID-19 across the state (up 8,220 from yesterday) with 501,691 cases defined as recovered or inactive. Currently, there are 3,212 hospitalizations (a net increase of 144 over the previous day), and 6,810 deaths from the virus statewide (an increase of 100 in 24 hours) for a death rate of 1.17. The state has conducted more than 5.5 million tests (an increase of 26,426 in 24 hours) with a 23.68% positivity rate for the day. Hospital capacities sit at 12% of floor beds (1,427 beds) and 9% of ICU beds (186 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.