Nashville leaders say they have no interest in going back to a lockdown. They believe getting more people to follow current rules — especially mask wearing — will bring the coronavirus back under control.
The largest counties surrounding Nashville have now reinstated their expired mask mandates, with Rutherford County joining the list on Wednesday. It will take a few weeks to see what kind of effect the additional masking has on new cases. Until then, Cooper has ruled out going back to more business restrictions in Davidson County.
“Now that you’ve got a regional adoption of this standard, you’ve got to look to that. We’re deploying our best tool in a better way,” he says. “With our region adopting a better mask standard, we hope to see the benefits of that. … It’s been proven here and around the country that it works.”
Nashville health officials say people should consider masking even when visiting with friends or relatives in the home, especially as activities move indoors with the weather.
But this month, household transmission has been overtaken by the workplace, where roughly a third of all coronavirus cases are starting in Nashville. According to contact tracing by the Metro Public Health Department, just 6% of new cases are tied to K-12 schools and childcare.
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