A Healthy Nashville: COVID-19 Community Response

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Media - March 24, 2020

A Healthy Nashville: COVID-19 Community Response

A special message from Senator Bill Frist, M.D.

The power of collaboration, innovation and action has never been more critical than it is now to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. As we work together to #FlattenTheCurve, NashvilleHealth will share regular emails to inform, stimulate and encourage during this unprecedented situation. We are committed to continued collaboration for the health of our community in these challenging times.

In this issue:
COVID-19 Response Fund
Tracking COVID in Tennessee
Metro Emergency Supply Drive
Sen. Frist Addresses COVID-19 Crisis

NashvilleHealth Chairman Bill Frist, M.D., is chairing Nashville’s COVID-19 Response Fund, created by Mayor John Cooper, together with philanthropic, corporate, and government partners, to rapidly deploy resources to community-based organizations – getting dollars to where they are needed most. Housed at the United Way, the fund is focusing its initial allocations on helping Nashvillians who are experiencing lost wages or who become ill from the virus receive the assistance they need to stay in their homes and keep food on the table.

Tracking COVID in Tennessee

Each day, the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide. In an effort to raise awareness about these figures and understand how our changes in behavior – including business closures, school closures, and sheltering in place for non-essential workers – are impacting infection rates, NashvilleHealth shares tracking updates and insights based on TDH data.

Data acquired from the TDH Website, as of March 24 analyzed by Sajid Khan, Change Healthcare and NashvilleHealth Board.

Metro Emergency Medical Supply Drive

Metro’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is asking community members, including local medical facilities and professionals who are not involved in caring for COVID-19 patients, to donate new and unused medical and PPE that could protect staff members and providers involved in the city’s response.

Metro is specifically asking for surgical face masks and N-95 masks, isolation gowns, disposable exam gloves, sani-cloth wipes, face shields, hand sanitizer, specimen bags, red top viral tubes (lab supply), nasal swabs (lab supply), and large trash cans.