Yesterday, we learned from the Center for Public Integrity that White House Coronavirus Task Force Member Deborah Birx, MD, held a call with the leadership of 11 major cities ... Nashville being one ... calling for "aggressive" steps to be taken i the wake of increasing positivity rates on COVID-19 testing. In addition to Nashville, other cities identified were Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.
The full Center for Public Integrity article can be accessed here:
Metro Nashville
Today, Nashville reported 18,830 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of 407 cases in the last 24 hours. There are currently 5,545 active cases in Nashville, 13,116 individuals who have recovered and 206 active hospitalizations (down 16 since yesterday). With 169 deaths (up 2 since yesterday, the city has a case fatality rate of 0.9%.
In Davidson County, 151,434 tests have been administered with a positive rate of 12.4% (up from 10.7% on July 1 and 9.4% on June 1). Of note, the 7-day average for positive tests is 14.8%, down from 15.1% earlier this week.
On the trend lines, the 14-day new case trend both remains in the red, but the transmission rate has moved from red to yellow for the first time in weeks. The goal for the transmission rate is to be less than 1.0. Currently, it sits at 1.08, which is down from the 1.2 transmission rate from earlier this week. Hospital bed capacity remains in the yellow with 16% availability (down from 17% yesterday and 4 points off the goal of 20% capacity), but ICU bed capacity has moved back into the green hitting the target of 20% capacity. The other two capacity metrics - public health and testing - remain in the green.
More detailed data is available on the Metro Dashboard. Click here for details.
Masks are required in Nashville, and a number of other surrounding counties have also begun instituting mandatory mask regulations. Additionally, public health officials continue to ask (beg) residents to be vigilant in maintaining social distancing measures, as well as to go out as little as possible, wash hands frequently and stay home if ill. Metro police are authorized to issue civil citations to those who fail to comply with the mask mandate unless the individual has a specific exemption.
Tennessee State
This afternoon, Tennessee reports 86,987 cases of COVID-19, an increase of 2,570 since yesterday. Tennessee has recorded 925 deaths (an increase of 37 since yesterday). There have been 4,016 hospitalizations across Tennessee (up 109 in 24 hours) and 51,661 have recovered (an increase of 1,913 since yesterday). A total of 1,295,115 Tennesseans have been tested for COVID-19 (an increase of 32,122 since yesterday).
Despite rising case numbers and actual numbers of deaths, the statewide death rates have continued to drop. Currently, the state's death rate remains at 1.06. That figure is down from a death rate of 1.3 on July 1 and 1.6 for much of June.
Donate to the Greater Nashville COVID-19 Response Fund
Earlier this week, the United Way of Greater Nashville released the following statement from Brian Hassett, president and CEO of the organization. "We're all tired. This has gone on longer and affected many more people than any of could have anticipated. But we're not giving up. As long as there are people in need ... people in our community who are suffering from the effects of this virus, United Way will be here," Brian Hassett, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Nashville, said in a news release. "We're going to continue to work hard every day to bridge the gaps and to support our nonprofit partners and our neighbors to make sure we all make it through this together. But to do that, we need a lot more funding. We need a lot more of our local businesses, corporations and private foundations to step up and help our community weather this storm."
Approximately $160,000 of the $5.06 million fund remains. For information on how the funds have been used, please go to www.nashvilleresponsefund.com. To donate, please go to www.unitedwaynashville.org/donate.