NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) — Nashville health officials say that 96 percent of Metro’s Intensive Care hospital beds are currently occupied thanks to the rapidly worsening pandemic.
Davidson County COVID-19 Task Force Chair Dr. Alex Jahangir revealed the troubling statistic on Thursday during Mayor John Cooper’s weekly coronavirus press briefing.
Dr. Jahangir noted that roughly one-third of the COVID-19 patients being treated in Nashville hospitals are not Metro residents. He explained that the city's extensive medical facilities attract patients from all across Middle Tennessee.
Four of the key metrics Metro uses to gauge the progress of its battle to bring the health crisis under control are now in the red.
Dr. Jahangir pleaded with Nashvillians to wear masks in public, keep group gatherings small, and observe social distancing.
He cautioned that doing so was the only way to keep schools and the economy open and return to “some normal sense of life.”
