NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — One of the White House Coronavirus Task Force doctors, Dr. Deborah Birx, listed Nashville as one of eleven cities that should take "aggressive" steps to mitigate its COVID-19 outbreak, according to The Center for Public Integrity.
The other cities listed were: Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. According to Dr. Birx, all of them are seeing increases in the percentage of tests coming back positive.
Dr. Brix made the statement on a private call, which was released by The Center for Public Integrity.
On the call, she told hundreds of emergency managers and other state and local leaders that they should act quickly to stem the outbreaks. Among her recommendations were to trace the contacts of patients testing positive for COVID-19 in areas where test positivity is going up.
Mayor John Cooper's office released the following statement:
"The White House’s statement says nothing new and is based on old information that we have highlighted dozens of times over the past months. They are right to note the surge in cases in Nashville - but frankly, they are late to the game. We took aggressive action by mandating masks in June and moving back to a modified Phase 2 three weeks ago."
On Twitter, Metro Council member Russ Bradford called for the Mayor to declare Broadway as a health hazard.
"This is serious now, it’s time...take the needed step of declaring Lower Broadway a public health hazard and shut it down!"
