NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- The third week in June got off to a rocky start as Tennessee struggles to fend off an uptick in new cases of coronavirus.
State health officials on Monday reported an unusually high 728 new cases of the virus during the previous 24 hours.
The four day running average of new infections reported by the state currently stands at 705 cases. Compare that to one week ago when the four day average stood at 456 cases.
Metro Nashville is also experiencing a spike in new infections. Nashville Health officials on Monday reported 300 new cases in the previous 24 hours. On Tuesday, the city reported 178 new infections.
Metro health officials say that mroe than 200 of this week’s new infections came from results for tests administered earlier in the month. They say the lab that processed the tests failed to report the results in a timely manner.
Health officials stress that the running average new case rate is just one of six metrics used to gauge the success of Metro’s campaign to control the virus. They note that the other five metrics continue to show progress against the illness.
Still, the unusually large number of new COVID-19 infections reported Monday led Mayor John Cooper to again this week postpone transition to Phase Three of Metro’s Roadmap to Recovery. That transition should have taken place June 8.
When Nashville does move to Phase Three, all limits on patron capacity at retail outlets and restaurants will be removed. Close contact businesses will be permitted to increase in-house capacity. Many of Music City’s entertainment venues will be permitted to reopen for the first time since March.
