The Tennessee Department of Health has confirmed nine cases of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, in the state as of Wednesday midday. Of those cases, five are in Williamson County, two in Davidson County, one in Shelby County and one in Sullivan County. State health officials still say the overall risk to the public still remains low, despite limited testing capacity possibly skewing confirmed case data.
The most recent case is an adult male in Davidson County with mild symptoms and who is currently isolated at home. Prior to the announcement, it had been more than 24 hours since TDH confirmed a coronavirus case. Nashville State Community College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center both said Wednesday a student and health care provider, respectively, from their campuses, were confirmed to have COVID-19. It is uncertain whether these cases are included in the statewide count provided by TDH.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, the first in history to be caused by a coronavirus. The last time WHO declared a pandemic was in 2009 for the H1N1 outbreak, which infected nearly a quarter of the world’s population.
So far, there have been 126,660 confirmed cases worldwide, with more than 1,321 cases in the United States. Last night, President Donald Trump announced a 30-day travel ban from 26 European countries to stop the spread.
The state has received $10 million in federal funding for response efforts and is currently deciding how to put it to use. Gov. Bill Lee has not yet declared a state of emergency — a move at least 12 other states have taken, including Florida and Maryland, who made the call after two and three confirmed cases, respectively. TDH Commissioner Lisa Piercey told reporters on Monday she didn’t “believe we were there yet.”
Areas schools shutting down
A number of area educational leaders added to their response efforts Wednesday....
[See list in the link to the full article.]
--per Kara Hartnett with Williamson Hompage