Nashville Mayor John Cooper on Thursday issued a four-phased plan to reopen Nashville’s economy after the COVID-19 pandemic grounded it to a halt, and he said the first phase could start within a few weeks.
Each of the four phases contains metrics that will determine when certain parts of the city’s economy will reopen, Cooper said at a press conference.
“These include triggers that could require us all to revert to an earlier phase of the plan to protect our community and ensures that area health providers do not become overwhelmed by a spike in COVID-19 cases. Every Nashvillian feels an urge to return to business as normal. Many livelihoods depend on it,” Cooper said.
“But everyone, business owners, employees, and customers should trust that places of business, schools, and all venues throughout Nashville are safe. Consumer confidence lies at the heart of our economy. A safe rollout must be data-driven, not purely date-driven. This is essential to avoid a false start, which would simply prolong the economic effects of the coronavirus in Davidson County.”
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 Thursday’s press conference 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
As The Tennessee Star reported Wednesday, Leslie Waller, an epidemiologist with the Metro Nashville Public Health Department, said that in recent weeks most of the new cases in Nashville have shifted geographically.
“Most of our new cases are now clustered in the southeastern part of the county,” Waller said.
“Communities that call it home are numerous and diverse, and they work in a number of essential service jobs.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “John Cooper” by John Cooper.
[…] Tennessee Star reported last month, Cooper issued a four-phased plan to reopen Nashville’s […]
Mike Johnson, your comment is so on-the-point.
This is an article well worth your time to read. https://www.zerohedge.com/health/global-covid-19-lockdown-what-youre-not-being-told-part-2
Every year in the U.S. 300,000 Americans are affected by ticks. We don’t shut down the economy over ticks!
Step #5 – vote this idiot out of office!
Meanwhile, he and all other government workers enjoy a paid vacation and scorn those who are going bankrupt and want to work.
Politicians ARE the problem, not CV.
DON’T be misled by the Politicians, wearing a cloth face mask does not protect you against the Coronavirus. The purpose of wearing a mask in public is best explained by the CDC on their website.
CDC “recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings WHERE OTHER SOCIAL DISTANCING MEASURES ARE DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.”
CDC go on further to explain:
“It is critical to emphasize that maintaining 6-feet social distancing remains important to slowing the spread of the virus. CDC is additionally advising the USE OF SIMPLE CLOTH FACE COVERINGS TO SLOW THE SPREAD OF THE VIRUS AND HELP PEOPLE WHO MAY HAVE THE VIRUS AND DO NOT KNOW IT FROM TRANSMITTING IT TO OTHERS. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.”
It should be noted that words STOPPING THE VIRUS OR PREVENTING YOU FROM GET THE VIRUS is not mention.
CDC points out on their website that
” cloth face coverings recommended ARE NOT SURGICAL MASKS OR N-95 RESPIRATORS. An N95 FFR is a type of respirator which removes particles from the air that are breathed through it. These respirators filter out at least 95% of very small (0.3 micron) particles. N95 FFRs are capable of filtering out all types of particles, including bacteria and viruses.”
In another independence study reported in Science New – a mask that used 16 layers of handkerchief fabric was able to filter out 63 percent of 300-nanometer-sized particles. (The coronavirus is between 50 to 200 nanometers in diameter.) But that mask was harder to breathe with compared with thick, tight-fitting N95 respirators, often used in hospitals, that can block minuscule particles. Wearing a cloth mask with that many layers would be uncomfortable and may “cause some to pass out,” the researchers wrote in the letter.
In industry and the medical profession it show be noted that you must be medical cleared to wear a N95 Respirator, complete training and enrolled in a Respiratory Protection program, be fit test for tightness, and men must be clean shaven to allow the mask to protect you. Reference 29 CFR 1910.134.
One against the Mayor proves that Logic and Common Sense are not found in his Administration. Someone get the Mayor a Dummies Guide or Idiot’s Guide to Running a City.
Here is a great Example of Mayor Stupidity:
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. Let’s take a well known Restaurant with several locations in Nashville, according to their website the average seating capacity is 177 to 200. which mean at 50% they are allow to have 88 to 100 customer in a dine-in service. But Hair Salons is a NO-GO in phase one.
However 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. Restaurants (seating capacities of 188 to 200) will be allow 141 to 150 people eating. but a Hair Salon industry is more regulated than the food industry but they can on only have 10 people by appointment only.
Where the logic in this or does the Mayor has is hands in the deep pockets of the Restaurants Industry?
Great points! Take one look at the guy, does he look like he knows the inside of a hair salon? But I bet he knows restaurants inside and out! And to add insult to injury, all that “experience” is now being paid for by us taxpayers!
With strong evidence of manipulation of COVID19 case count there should be little “trust” in a reopening program reliant on the same sources of info used to implement the bogus shutdowns in the first place. Attention politicians and brainwashed members of the medical industrial complex, eyes of the patriots are on you. It’s time you opened up to the true data regarding the severe over-reaction of lockdowns and business shutdowns. The fog of this “war” is clearing and more and more see the reality of what truly has occurred. People are tired of the lies and political over reach with the implementation of draconian laws. There will be repercussions to bring balance back to the social and political landscape. Lines will be drawn, sides will be taken…Where will you be?
Mike Johnson. Exactly. Data driven means that fake numbers will be used to control actions to suit those lording power over us.