Mayor says new Covid-19 cases will not stop reopenings

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – The rise of new positive Covid-19 cases continues in Hamilton County.

But Mayor Jim Coppinger today reiterated that it isn’t enough to stop reopenings.

As the county prepares to expand reopenings and ease restaurant restrictions tomorrow, Governor Lee announced that the state is also raising the number for gatherings to 50 people.

As this is happening, the Health Department announced another 40 new cases today, after the record number of 43 from yesterday.

Mayor Coppinger says they have always known that the raw number of new cases would go up as they do more testing.

But he hasn’t seen anything to change his mind about reopenings, yet.

“With the uptick we’ve seen in the cases and I get lots of phones call from people who ask ‘doesn’t that mean we are going backwards’… no it doesn’t and it means that we are still prepared to reopen and we feel good about it because none of these cases has been linked to any of these reopenings.”

“These are people that were working in areas that were considered essential jobs as we’ve said for quite some time now and as a result of that, unfortunately some have taken it home to their families.”

Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes today reported that the county has seen a total of 20 clusters of cases so far. The clusters vary from 2 people to 29 at the same place.

Two of the clusters are at chicken plants… 29 people at Kochs Food and 4 at Pilgrims Pride.

Barnes reports there are currently 194 actives Covid-19 cases in our area.

Some good news is that the testing this week at East Lake and the Mary Walker Towers all came back negative.

“The pandemic is not over… the more you stay at home, avoiding as many outings as possible, the safer you are.”

Next week, the Health Department is moving their drive thru tests from the Bonnyshire Emissions Testing Facility to schools around the city.

Two will open on Tuesday after Memorial Day.

Hardy Elementary School – 2100 Glass St, Chattanooga, TN 37406

 Monday-Sunday the following dates:

(Tuesday-Sunday the week of Memorial Day)

Hours: 7AM-11AM

May 26-May 31

June 8- June 14

June 22-June 28

July 6- July 12

July 20-July 26

East Lake Academy of Fine Arts – 2700 E 34th St, Chattanooga, TN 37407

Monday-Friday the following dates:

Hours: 7AM-11AM

May 26- May 29

June 8- June 12

June 22- June 26

July 6 – July 10

July 20- July 24

Brainerd High School – 1020 N Moore Rd, Chattanooga, TN 37411

Monday-Sunday the following dates:

Hours: 7AM-11AM

June 1 – June 7

June 15-June 21

June 29- July 5

July 13-July 19

July 27-August 2

Orchard Knob Elementary School – 2000 E 3rd St, Chattanooga, TN 37404

Monday-Friday the following dates:

Hours: 7AM-11AM

June 1- June 5

June 15-June 19

June 29- July 3

July 13-July 17

July 27- July 31

The new COVID-19 testing sites will operate through July 2020.