“People do seem to be tired of COVID and they just want to put it aside and go back to normal,” says Dr. William Schaffner, Professor of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University. “I’m sorry, but COVID is here to stay and it’s not going to disappear. This is a marathon and we’re going to be wearing masks for a while, so let’s just make it the social norm.”

Dr. Schaffner joined Mayor John Cooper and Metro health leaders on Thursday for one of their most grim news conferences since the start of the pandemic. Schaffner gave a stern warning saying “get with the program” when it comes to mask. He says his comments and the urgency in his voice was out of character, but necessary.

The city is on track to climbing back up to its peak in July. Then, Davidson County was averaging 400 new cases per day. In September, that number dropped to 100. Now, the average has climbed back up to 175.

“I thought we would be able to maintain our discipline,” Dr. Schaffner said. “In retrospect, none of us in public health and certainly our political leadership did not inform the public that once we got out of lockdown, we would have to keep masking and social distancing.”

As of Monday morning, three of Nashville’s key metrics are in the red category, meaning they have unsatisfactory

levels. .

COVID-19 IN TENNESSEE