Nashville Health Leaders Worry About Rising Cases As State Aims To Reopen Economy

Nashville leaders are expressing concern about the spike in COVID-19 cases. They say there was a 25% increase in active cases over the weekend.

The city currently has 1,903 confirmed cases, an increase of 152 since Sunday. Health officials say while they’ve increased testing by 11% in the past few days, positive cases have increased by 19%.

“This tells us that over the past week there is a greater rate of infection than the previous week,” said Alex Jahangir, the director of Metro’s Coronavirus Response Task Force, during a press conference. “As I stated last week, we are still in a battle with this virus.”

The increase comes as Tennessee leaders are making plans to reopen the state’s economy sometime in May. Last week, Mayor John Cooper along with other major city mayors formed a task force to coordinate plans to get businesses up and running again.

Cooper told reporters that the task force would be convening this week to discuss its plans for a restart, but that the economy would reopen only if it can be done safely. In the meantime, he said Nashville residents can expect an extension of the city’s safer-at-home order tomorrow.