Murfreesboro Feels Pressure To Follow Nashville, Not State

The mayor of the largest satellite city to Nashville is feeling pressure to follow Davidson County rather than the state on reopening businesses amid the pandemic.

Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland conducted one of his regular Facebook Live updates last night and says he receives emails every day asking him to slow down the reopening of restaurants, gyms and other businesses.

“People will say, Hhey, can you implement this, can you implement that.’ The short answer is no, we can’t,” he says. “We’re following the state guidelines, and we’re doing that to the best of our ability.”

Even though Rutherford County is larger than some of the six metropolitan areas that have autonomy from the state, Tennessee still governs its health department as it does in 89 of the state’s 95 counties.

Restaurants in those 89 counties have been able to open at partial capacity for nearly two weeks. Nashville eateries only began seating patrons this week, and other retailers in the city still haven’t reopened.

McFarland says the city of Murfreesboro has been advised that it can do no less or no more than what the state orders.