Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide. In an effort to raise awareness about these figures and understand how our changes in behavior – including business closures, school closures, and sheltering in place for non-essential workers – are impacting infection rates, NashvilleHealth is sharing daily tracking updates and insights based on Department of Health data. We are also incorporating the latest daily figures for Davidson County from Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s office.
Here is the latest state-level data as of 3pm CT on April 15th. Tennessee confirmed COVID-19 cases increased from 5,823 on Tuesday, April 14th to 6,079 on Wednesday, April 15th. Hospitalizations are now at 663, a 5% increase from yesterday. Fatalities rose 1.22%, from 124 to 135.
Governor Lee announced today that he is recommending all schools in Tennessee remain closed for the duration of the 2019/2020 school year. The state has formed a Child Well-being Task Force to ensure at-risk children will be monitored and checked on in the interim. He also announced free COVID-19 testing will be available for any Tennessean, regardless of traditional symptoms, as the Unified-Command group ramps up an aggressive effort to expand testing capacity across the state.
The expanded testing effort launches this weekend, April 18-19, 2020, with the Tennessee National Guard popping up 15 drive-through testing sites across the state. Drive-through testing sites will also be available during the weekends of April 25-26 and May 2-3. A full list of sites can be accessed here or within the list below. In addition to drive-through sites, all rural county health departments across the state offer free COVID-19 testing 5 days a week.
The data for Nashville-Davidson County is current as of 9:30am CT on April 15. The city has confirmed 1,492 cases of COVID-19, up from 1,457 on April 1, a 35-case increase. The confirmed cases range in age from 2 months to 94 years.
Data acquired from the Tennessee Department of Health Website, analyzed by Sajid Khan, SVP at Change Healthcare and a NashvilleHealth board member.
Data acquired from Mayor John Cooper and the Davidson County Department of Health via the daily Covid-19 update.