On a day when the United States hits the grim milestone of 200,000 lives lost to COVID-19, Tennessee nears 200,000 confirmed cases and surpassed 2,000 deaths several days ago. For those keeping score, flu/pneumonia deaths numbered 1,656 in 2017. Across the country, influenza has been responsible for between 12,000 to 61,000 deaths annually since 2010. COVID has killed 200,000 in six months. So, no, it isn't just like the flu.

Masks - a proven and effective mitigation tool - have been politicized. The Republican Lt. Governor of Ohio was met with loud boos tying to sell Trump-themed masks ahead of a rally just outside of Dayton. Closer to home, Rutherford County's mask mandate ends today. After saying he recognized how important masks have been in lowering case numbers in the county, Mayor Bill Ketron ended the mask mandate a week early but said the 'hopes' people will do the right thing.

CDC guidance also has come under scrutiny as questions swirl about political influence on scientific reporting. The medical community is getting whiplash from the postings, deletions and re-postings on the site. Despite best practices outlined by the CDC and White House Coronavirus Task Force, mayors and governors (largely Democratic ones) are being sued for following that guidance.

The problem for Tennesseans ... and all Americans ... is that COVID-19 isn't political. It doesn't care which candidate you support. It doesn't care if you lean right or left. Yet, here we are with 200,000 dead and a significant portion of the country equating patriotism with shunning a cloth square of material that literally saves lives.

Metro Nashville

As of 9:30 today, the city reported 28,233 confirmed cases, an increase of 54 over the last 24 hours. There are currently 1,079 active cases in Nashville, 26,881 inactive or recovered cases, and 99 active hospitalizations. With 263 deaths, the city has a case fatality rate of 0.93%. In Davidson County, 358,988 tests have been administered with a positive rate of 7.9%. The 7-day average for positive tests is 4.3% as of today (down from 6.6% on Sept. 3 and 5.5% on Sept. 13).

On the trend lines, Nashville continues to have 5 out of 8 in the green with the remaining three in the yellow. With a goal for transmission to be less than 1.0, the city has slipped back into the yellow after days of being in the green. The current transmission rate is 1.03. The 14-day case rate does remain in the green with a decreasing trend in new cases. 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 17% availability. ICU beds are in the green with 20% capacity. The goal for both hospital and ICU bed capacity is 20%.

The New Cases per 100K Residents remains in the yellow this week. The goal of the seven-day rolling average is to be at 10 or below. Currently, Nashville sits at 15.2 on this metric. The goal for the 7-Day Positivity Rate is to see a figure at 10% or less. Currently, Nashville remains in the green with a rate of 4.3% as of 9:30 this morning.

More detailed data is available on the Metro Dashboard. Click here for details.

Nashville's mask mandate continues alongside loosened restrictions for gatherings and increased capacity numbers in restaurants and bars.

Tennessee State

After pretty big jumps in numbers over the weekend, this afternoon the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) confirmed a more modest number of new cases of COVID-19 today with the state total hitting 185,148 (up 739 since yesterday). There are currently 766 hospitalizations (up 62 from yesterday) and 2,261 deaths (up 28 in 24 hours) for a death rate of 1.22. Nearly 2.7 million tests have been administered statewide (up 11,828 since yesterday). The number of inactive/recovered cases is 167,778.