Nashville, TN – Today, Monday, April 20th, 2020, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s provided an update on Tennessee’s efforts regarding COVID-19 Coronavirus relief.
Governor Lee’s daily press conferences will resume next Monday through Thursday at 3:00pm CT and can be viewed here. Governor Lee has also established a website specific to COVID-19 Coronavirus updates which can be found here.
Key Updates
Record Testing Conducted This Weekend
In an aggressive push to test outside of traditional symptoms, Governor Lee announced that more than 11,000 Tennesseans received free COVID-19 tests through the weekend efforts of the COVID-19 Unified-Command Group. Expanded testing will continue for the next two weekends – April 2th5-26th and May 2nd-3rd. A full list of sites can be accessed here.
In addition to drive-through sites, all rural county health departments across the state offer free COVID-19 testing 5 days a week. A full list of county health departments can be accessed here.
To date, we have conducted 100,689 tests, with this weekend’s surge accounting for the largest number of tests conducted in our state over a two-day period.
More information on Tennessee’s expanded testing capacity is available here.
Data Update
- For 17 consecutive days, we have seen only single-digit increases in the number of cases in our state.
- Our hospitalization rate has consistently remained lower than national averages.
- As of today, our number of recovered patients exceeds the number of active cases.
Safer at Home Expiring April 30, Phased Reopening Next Week
Today, Governor announced the order for Tennesseans to remain at home will expire April 30th, 2020. The vast majority of businesses in 89 of Tennessee’s 95 counties will be allowed to re-open on May 1st, with some slated to open on Monday, April 27th.
The Lee Administration is working directly with local officials and health departments in Tennessee’s six major metropolitan areas (Shelby County, Madison County, Davidson County, Hamilton County, Knox County, and Sullivan County) as they plan their re-open strategies.
The Economic Recovery Group (ERG), composed of 30 leaders from the public and private sector is crafting guidance to assist businesses in a safe reopening. The industry representatives participating in the ERG collectively represent over 140,000 Tennessee businesses that employ over 2.5M Tennesseans. More information about ERG is available here.
More information on efforts to safely reboot Tennessee’s economy is available here.
Current Department of Health Testing Results (as of 2 p.m. 4/20)
| Confirmed Cases | Hospitalizations | Fatalities | Recovered | Total Tests |
| 7,238 | 730 | 152 | 3,575 | 100,689 |
For more information on COVID-19 Coronavirus in Tennessee, please visit the Tennessee Department of Health’s website here.
