Task force chief: ’This is a greater national issue’

The leader of Mayor John Cooper’s COVID-19 response task force said Monday that the city’s efforts to roll out illness screening centers are dependent on the national market for medical supplies working through major kinks.

Alex Jahangir, chair of the Metro Coronavirus Task Force, said the city has made progress in preparing to set up a network of assessment and testing centers. But he added that things won’t move forward until there are adequate supplies for both patients as well as for caregivers and other health care providers.

Jahangir, director of the orthopedic trauma group at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, added that the Nashville area is fortunate to have “a robust and world-class” health care network and that the city wants to open assessment centers “as quickly as is possible.” But he added that a clear timeline for rolling out testing centers isn’t yet a reality.

“I want to be very clear: We will open up when we have the correct amount of supplies to make sure that both our patients are taken care of well as are our health care workers,” Jahangir said at the Cooper team’s regular briefing Monday. “To answer your question of timeline: I will tell you ask quickly as possible, but I think this is a greater national issue, this supply issue.”

State officials on Monday afternoon said there have been 615 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the state, up from fewer than 500 on Sunday. Two people have died.