Why Tennessee is one of the fastest-growing COVID hotspots in the world

Julia Alley - Sophomore | News

In the middle of December 2020, Tennessee was announced as the fastest growing spot for COVID-19 in the entire world.

“Tennessee, as we speak, is the number one hot-spot for transmission for the coronavirus in the entire world,” said Dr. Steve Threlkeld, an infectious disease specialist with Baptist Hospital in Memphis.

Dr. Threlkeld has been studying the virus since it first made its appearance in late December the previous year. He goes on to explain that this level of transmission is not only embarrassing for the state, but dangerous for all of its citizens. At this point in December, all of the ICUs in Tennessee were at 98% capacity and the health department was drained.

After this news, many Tennesseans went about their days more carefully to avoid spreading the virus, however, as is clear by the data, many more did not. There is a slight dip after we rose to the top of the chart, but soon after as residents came back from their holiday vacations, the infection rate began to rise once again. While many Tennesseans attempt to stay safe from the virus, Tennessee as a whole seems unable to stay low on infections for long.

Only 38 states plus D.C. and Puerto Rico have put a mask mandate in place in the USA, which leaves 12 states without mandates including Tennessee to let the residents decide for themselves when and where they will wear their masks. So, why out of these states has Tennessee risen to the top?

Tennessee is home to many large tourist towns in America, including Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville. All of these cities bring large crowds of people to Tennessee every year and even in the midst of a pandemic, this has not seemed to change. The combination of Tennessee’s lack of masks and the high number of travelers has brought Tennessee to the top.

With all of the madness, many states have started to regulate Tennesseans traveling in their states and many require quarantine periods for Tennesseans trying to enter their states. Overall, just wear your mask correctly and social distance as much as possible and Tennessee will be a safer place for all of its citizens.