Nashville's handling of COVID-19 gains negative national attention

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Recently, Nashville has become the center of national attention, but for all the wrong reasons.

For the last couple weeks, pandemic and pre-pandemic Broadway has looked very similar: several blocks with tourists and pedal-tavern-loving bachelorettes.

TMZ has previously dubbed the city “No-Maskville” and talked about people are “partying like it WASN’T 2020.”

On Monday, Rolling Stone put out an article titled “Welcome to Nashville, Where We’re Just Realizing There’s a Pandemic.”

The article talks about the infamous East Nashville party where “Nashville looked like it had opened its own Hedonism resort.” That party also prompted the White House to issue a statement.

Mayor Cooper recently banned party buses in the city, but some took a chance and went to Franklin (they were banned there too). One bus even branded itself as “The Rowdy Rona.”

“It doesn’t just feel like we’re on the Titanic and we’re not being offered a life-boat, it feels like we’re being asked to keep the party going,” says bartender and server Nora Cooper.

Cooper says she felt sick at work one day but was told to finish out the shift anyway. She later tested positive for COVID-19.

“We were also sent a memo to the entire staff instructing us to not get tested, that we were safe, and to not pursue any further medical testing unless we were specifically told to by our management,” Cooper added.

She’s one of many people pushing for worker protection during the health crisis.

Cooper says the state is paying very little attention to their health while instead discussing legislation that would protect businesses, among several others, against Coronavirus lawsuits.

Mayor Cooper did not respond to our questions about how he is addressing Nashville’s notoriety issues.