NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- A revised set of pandemic projections frequently cited by the White House and Tennessee officials now show deaths rising sharply this fall.
Researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics at the University of Washington predict Tennesseans will increasingly fail to practice social distancing protocols as the year progresses.
As a result, the group projects Tennessee could see the number of COVID-19 deaths pass 50 fatalities a day by mid-September. If that prediction holds, Tennessee will have suffered more than 3600 pandemic deaths by the first of October.
On the plus side, the new UW projections do show this fall's possible COVID-19 spike remaining well within the response capacity of Tennessee medical facilities.
To date, the state has reported 441 virus related fatalities.
