Nashville officials have received 400 complaints about businesses since the city entered Phase One of its planned reopening after COVID-19, Metro Public Health Director Michael Caldwell said at a press conference Monday.
“Most of these complaints are about employees not wearing facial coverings properly. We are following up with each one of these businesses. What we are finding out is that a lot of these businesses just didn’t really understand the rules. We will continue our education and observations this week, if we find that, after we have already communicated with a business, that they continue to not be in compliance then we will start fining,” Caldwell said.
“We have issued four citations previously and will not hesitate to do it again.”
Caldwell said city officials will “use every means necessary to be able to reach out to individuals by phone, by mail, [and] by personally delivering a summons to their home.”
“We have found some people are difficult to reach, and we have found that when we have provided information directly to someone’s home that they do follow up with us. Everybody we have talked to for the most part has been cooperative. If they are not cooperative [then] we try to find ways that we can build trust with them so they can be compliant. We have not fined anybody for not speaking with our contact tracers at this time, although that is something we can consider if we feel we are having a problem with compliance.”
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, Nashville Mayor Cooper issued a four-phased plan to reopen Nashville’s economy.
According to ASafeNashville.org, for each of the four phases Nashville is in, city officials will only advance to the next phase if the area meets one of two benchmarks. The website said either the number of COVID-19 cases in Davidson County must remain stable or the number must decline over a 14-day period.
Alex Jahangir, who chairs Davidson County’s Metro Coronavirus Task Force, said at the time that city officials will slow the process down “if something worrisome presents in those metrics.”
According to Jahangir, the four phases involve the following:
• In Phase One retail businesses will open and restaurants will have dine-in services, all at half-capacity and added guidelines and restrictions and operations will be present. Employees will be screened daily to ensure that they are symptom free and they will be required to wear cloth face coverings. Other public gatherings will be limited to 10 people or less. Everyone out in public should wear cloth masks and, if you are able, still work from home.
• In Phase Two, businesses and restaurants can go to three-quarters capacity with certain guidelines. In addition, personal hygiene businesses like hair and nail salons will open but only for appointments, no walk-ins, and limited to 10 people inside the building at one time. Playgrounds, tennis courts, and basketball courts will open. Other public gatherings, including worship services, will be limited to 50 people and with adherence to strict physical distancing protocols.
• In Phase Three businesses and restaurants will go to full capacity. In addition, bars and entertainment venues will open at half capacity. Gyms and fitness facilities will open. Other gatherings will be limited to 100, again with adherence to strict physical distancing protocols.
• In Phase Four, bars and entertainment venues will be at full capacity, and sport venues will open with adherence to physical distancing protocols and best practices.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
When is the church going to rise up in Nashville, the Bible Belt of the South? When are the personal law suits coming against Metro Counsel and the Mayor for ignoring the State Constitution? I wonder if the people who are walking around blinded by fear and their own trauma, will they wake up suddenly and realize they have no more freedoms? We are all living in a Matrix. Nashville is a city that has been taken over. Very sad.
Mask checking. Clean underwear check next? Or flossing at bedtime? Or recycling your tuna can? What a hoot.
So Nashville has become the new home for snitches. Figures because the liberal left-wingers are all about control. Just the type of people that one wants for friends and neighbors. If you don’t like a particular situation then do not go there is the better solution.
Am I alone in feeling a bit concerned that we have Nashvillains that are willing to snitch on their fellow residents?
If that is the sort of petty nastiness that we have bred in our city, maybe we deserve the shoddy leadership we have.