• NewsChannel5’s independent reporting says that 906 people have contracted the novel coronavirus in Tennessee, with 257 in Nashville and 170 cases in Memphis and three deaths statewide. The state’s Health Department is reporting 784, reflecting a lag in data reported upstream from the county health departments.
• Soldiers from nearby Fort Campbell, Kentucky have been deployed to assist with outbreak response in New York, where intensive care patients are expected to outnumber the city’s capacity by the end of the week.
• It’s never a good sign when the State of Tennessee has paused its usual timing for reporting layoffs and unemployment claims, with observers saying those are at unprecedented levels right now.
• The Metro Council has created a 24-member task force to study and make recommendations from the business community following the city’s destructive tornadoes and COVID-19 outbreak.
• Nashville has closed the city’s playgrounds, dog parks, basketball courts, tennis courts, picnic shelters, and skate parks in an effort to reduce the chance of the virus spreading. Nature parks and green-ways remain open.
• WPLN takes a look at some of the common myths around tornadoes like the ones that struck Nashville on March 3.
• If the last two weeks have felt like a blur, The Tennessean has a timeline that lays out how things went from “reeling from a tornado” to “staying in our houses to save lives.”
• A new executive order from the Governor’s office bans elective procedures at hospitals in the state, aiming to clear the workload for surgeons and other medical staff to treat COVID-19 patients.
• A Nashville judge has ruled that Jayona Brown will tried as an adult in the death of a Nashville police officer John Anderson last July. Police say that Brown was attempting to flee a different officer when she collided with Anderson’s patrol car.
• The governor signed a temporary waiver that allows “to go” sales of (closed) alcoholic beverages, fulfilling our dreams of ordering a margarita taking it home to drink it. While, it’s a temporary move, we’ll see how things go.
• A music row tower will soon be razed to make way for a hotel, assuming all that is still in the works when we’re no longer strongly discouraged from going to hotels.
• We don’t have much in the world of sports to talk about, but there is a story about how the Tennessee Titans are working to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.
• Two of Tennessee’s former US Senators disagree on whether we should continue to try and “flatten the curve” or if older folks should take the risk for the sake of the economy. For reference, only one of them has a medical degree.
• The Margaritaville Hotel downtown has closed and laid off its entire staff, saying that only three rooms would have been booked amid the outbreak.
• Gaylord Opryland has also suspended all operations, joining the four other Ryman Hospitality properties in closing. The company says it will work with the Metro Health Department to determine a date to re-open.
• If the grocery delivery date has slipped too much, Eater Nashville has list of restaurants that have converted to take-out service since their dining rooms are ordered closed.
• In all of this, there are at least some good stories coming out about folks working together, this time to make face masks and shields for medical staff.

Photo by Bryan Quigley. Want to see your photo featured here?