Clark Center Park in Oak Ridge will re-open on Friday, May 1.
The re-opening was announced by the U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday.
DOE closed the park on April 4 in response to an executive order by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee as the state tried to control the spread of COVID-19.
The park has been closed since then.
[Read more…]Gymnasiums and exercise facilities in 89 of Tennessee’s 95 counties will be able to re-open on Friday, May 1.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced the possible re-openings on Tuesday.
The six counties that are excluded from the governor’s announcement are those with locally run health departments: Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Shelby, and Sullivan.
The Tennessee Economic Recovery Group has announced guidelines for how gyms and exercise facilities can re-open safely as the state continues to try to control the spread of COVID-19, a contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly.
“Exercise is incredibly important for the physical and mental health of our population, and we want Tennesseans to have access to safe environments where they can exercise as appropriate,” Lee said in a press release. “These guidelines outline best practices in keeping with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and health experts for gyms to reopen in a way that will keep their employees and customers safe.”
[Read more…]Restaurants were allowed to re-open under certain guidelines in 89 of the state’s 95 counties on Monday, and retail stores can re-open under similar guidelines on Wednesday.
The guidelines include operating at 50 percent capacity and maintaining social distance (generally keeping people at least six feet apart). The state recommends no live music, and restaurant bars should be kept closed. The state also recommends that employees in both industries wear cloth face coverings and that business owners follow federal guidelines for hygiene and workplace sanitation standards for COVID-19.
The 85 counties where restaurants and retail stores can re-open include Anderson and Roane counties.
Many businesses have been closed or operating under changed conditions as Tennessee, like other states and countries, tried to reduce the spread of COVID-19, a contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly.
“Tennesseans pulled together to flatten the curve, and it is time for people to begin to get back to work and back to their businesses,” Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said. “We are pursuing a careful, measured approach to reopening our economy that does not depend on heavy-handed mandates but instead provides practical tools for businesses of all sizes.”
[Read more…]On Friday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said 15 percent of Tennessee’s workforce had filed unemployment claims as of last week.
More than 400,000 people are without a job, Lee said during a press conference announcing new guidelines for restaurants and retailers that could open in most of the state’s counties this week.
Lee said $870 million in revenue was lost in March alone across some of Tennessee’s largest industries such as hospitality.
With employers and employees struggling, there could a $5 billion decrease in the state’s gross domestic product for 2020, the governor said.
The service industry has been hit especially hard, he said.
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As of Tuesday, Anderson County Emergency Medical Services had responded to more than 40 suspected COVID-19 calls since mid-March, Director Nathan Sweet said last week.
As of Tuesday, only one patient transported by Anderson County EMS had tested positive for COVID-19, Sweet said.
The suspected COVID-19 calls have come from across Anderson County: Oak Ridge, Norris, Clinton, Rocky Top, Marlow, Medford—”really just about anywhere in the county,” Sweet said.
The suspected COVID-19 calls are being screened by 911 emergency call centers in Anderson County, Clinton, and Oak Ridge to better prepare emergency responders before they arrive at the call site.
“If they meet any of the screening criteria, our crews are responding in appropriate personal protective equipment as a precaution for safety,” Sweet said.
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Note: This story was last updated at 5:45 p.m.
The number of COVID-19 cases increased by more than 2,000 in Tennessee last week as testing increased by more than 40,000.
The total number of cases passed 7,000, then 8,000, then 9,000 last week. The case count increased by 30 percent in one week. The Tennessee Department of Health reported 9,189 cases on Saturday, up from 7,070 on April 19.
But testing was up even more, a roughly 45 percent increase. The number of tests rose from 97,098 on Sunday, April 19, to 141,406 on Saturday, April 25.
The daily growth rate in the number of new cases had dropped to a low of 2.2 percent on Tuesday, April 21, but it has since increased to more than 5 percent. The number of new cases reported each day had been down to 156, but it’s now over 400.
The increase in the number of tests included more than 11,000 tests reported by the state of Tennessee at free drive-through sites last weekend. It was the largest number of tests in the state over a two-day period, Tennessee Governor Bill said Monday. The testing has been expanded to include patients without traditional COVID-19 symptoms.
Expanding testing capacity is an important step to re-open the state’s economy, Lee said. The governor has announced that he will not extend a stay-at-home order past April 30, and restaurants are able to reopen Monday at 50 percent occupancy and retailers are able to reopen Wednesday at 50 percent occupancy.
The increase in the number of cases in Tennessee has included inmates at a state prison, the Bledsoe County Correctional Complex in Pikeville. The Tennessee Department of Correction reported that 576 inmates tested positive for COVID-19 after a large testing event last weekend, although most didn’t show symptoms, and more than 2,000 people have been tested, according to the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville.
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There will be free drive-through COVID-19 testing in Oak Ridge on Sunday.
The testing is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 26, at the Oak Ridge campus of Roane State Community College. Participants can remain in their vehicles throughout the process.
The Anderson County Health Department and the Tennessee Department of Health are organizing the testing event, a press release said. Nurses and/or National Guard medics will collect nasal swabs from those who want to be tested. Test results may be available within 72 hours after the samples arrive at the lab, depending on lab volume.
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The Sew Good Mask Project is a new organization in Oak Ridge formed to coordinate those making cloth masks with the organizations that are requesting them.
The three Rotary Clubs in Oak Ridge are working together to provide funding for the purchase of supplies for the Sew Good Mask Project as well as other much-needed personal protective equipment.
More than 65 volunteers have joined the Sew Good Mask Project since its creation on April 8. More than 1,100 masks have been donated to places including Methodist Medical Center, Emory Valley Center, the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge Senior Center, Summit Medical Group Oak Ridge, Commonwealth Senior Living at Oak Ridge, Diversicare of Oak Ridge, and more, a press release said.
There are many ways to contribute to the project.
“You don’t need to be a sewer to help out,” said Judi Gray, the main force behind the Sew Good Mask Project.
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Engineers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are making metal molds that companies will use to manufacture plastic tubes for COVID-19 test kits.
The work has been cited in two federal coronavirus task force press conferences at the White House this week.
On Monday, Brad Smith, a federal health official, said the ORNL work could help supply more than 40 million collection tubes per month in the next several weeks. Smith grew up in Knoxville, and he has been a business leader and entrepreneur, and served in Tennessee state government. He is now deputy administrator and director of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The ORNL work was also cited by President Donald Trump on Sunday.
The ORNL engineers are using additive manufacturing to produce the metal molds for the COVID-19 test kits. Additive manufacturing is the process of making an object by printing it with a material layer by layer. Printers known as 3D printers— some large, some small—can be used.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Monday said he will not extend the state’s stay-at-home order past April 30, and most businesses in 89 of Tennessee’s 95 counties will be allowed to re-open on May 1.
“Our Economic Recovery Group is working with industry leaders around the clock so that some businesses can open as soon as Monday, April 27,” Lee said. “These businesses will open according to specific guidance that we will provide in accordance with state and national experts in both medicine and business.”
The governor said his administration will work with Shelby, Madison, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, and Sullivan counties and their health departments as they plan their own strategies for re-opening.
[Read more…]A staff member who has been volunteering at the Oak Ridge Schools’ food distribution sites has tested positive for COVID-19, Superintendent Bruce Borchers said Monday.
As a result, the Oak Ridge High School and Oak Ridge Schools Preschool buildings will be closed for the remainder of this week, Borchers said in a message to staff members on Monday afternoon.
If you have been receiving meals at Oak Ridge High School, the school system recommends going to Robertsville Middle School to pick up meals. If you have been receiving meals at Oak Ridge Schools Preschool, the school system recommends going to Glenwood Elementary School to pick up meals.
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Free drive-through testing for COVID-19 will be available at Roane State Community College’s main campus in Roane County on Sunday, April 19.
The testing is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Patients can remain in their vehicles throughout the process, a press release said.
The Roane County Health Department and the Tennessee Department of Health are organizing the testing event. Nurses and/or National Guard medics will collect nasal swabs from those who want to be tested, the press release said. Test results may be available within 72 hours after the samples arrive at the lab, depending on lab volume, the release said.
Anyone with health concerns, or who has concerns about the health of a family member, is invited to receive testing for COVID-19 at the event on April 19, the press release said. Participants do not need to provide a doctor’s note or prescription to access testing.
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