There’s a reason First Lady Dr. Jill Biden traveled to Nashville Wednesday to promote COVID-19 vaccinations.
Tennessee has the nation's sixth lowest number of residents fully vaccinated. Some 45 percent of Tennesseans have still not finished the first round of coronavirus shots.
Biden's visit came as Tennessee marked yet another grim COVID-19 milestone. Expect health officials to confirm early next week that the state has exceeded 28,000 virus related fatalities.
Tennessee currently has the nation’s seventh highest per capita covid death rate. One of the reasons for that? State residents have proven resistant to each new vaccine and booster.
On the plus side, just 5,500 new coronavirus cases were reported statewide during the week that ended Saturday. That’s an 80 percent drop from the 28,000 new infections reported during a single week in August.