In a last-ditch effort ahead of the holidays, public health officials across Tennessee on this week issued a flurry of warnings and pleas for people to avoid gathering with others outside their own households.
Tennessee continues to occupy the top spot in the nation for the rate of COVID-19 transmission, a dramatic surge that began in early November then accelerated after the Thanksgiving holidays. As of Tuesday evening, Tennessee had a seven-day average of 137.1 new cases per day per 100,000 residents. The next closest state was Oklahoma, with 115.
“If people pretend like the virus doesn’t exist and decide to have Christmas as usual, then they are putting themselves and presumably the people they care for at risk of getting ill and maybe even having to go to the hospital and maybe passing away,” Knox County Public Health Director Martha Buchanan warned Tuesday, just days after she herself recovered from the virus.
“That’s not a Christmas gift you want to give somebody,” she said.