Tennessee prisons report 4th inmate death
NASHVILLE — A fourth Tennessee prison inmate has died after contracting the coronavirus, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
The 71-year-old man was hospitalized on April 29 and died on Thursday at around 11 p.m., department spokeswoman Dorinda Carter wrote in an email.
The man, whom the department is not identifying by name, is the third inmate to die after contracting the virus at the privately run Trousdale Turner Correctional Center. One inmate who contracted the virus at the state-run Bledsoe County Correctional Complex has also died. The Correction
Department has said all the men had underlying medical conditions, and it is asking the medical examiner to determine the causes of death in each case.
The two prisons have reported high rates of infection. Two weeks ago, Trousdale reported 1,299 inmates infected by the virus plus two who were hospitalized. Fifty staff also tested positive. The numbers were high enough to give Trousdale County the highest per capita rate of cases in the U.S., according to an Associated Press analysis. On Friday afternoon, the prison was reporting that 1,291 of those inmates had recovered.
At Bledsoe, 585 inmates were reported as recovered on Friday with only two still listed as positive.
Meanwhile, the state’s Economic Recovery Group announced that it would lift capacity restrictions on restaurants and retail stores next Friday in 89 of the state’s 95 counties. Instead, rules will focus on social distancing with new guidelines to be released early next week. Restaurant tables will still need to be at least 6 feet apart.
In addition, large attractions like theaters and museums will be allowed to reopen on or after next Friday as long as they can effectively implement social distancing and protect employees and customers, according to a release from the group. Social gatherings will continue to be restricted to 10 people or fewer for the time being.
The six Tennessee counties with their own health departments will continue to follow their own reopening plans.
In Davidson County, election officials announced Friday that they were preparing for an “unprecedented” August primary election.
Earlier this month, the secretary of state’s office warned its local counterparts to prepare as though all 1.4 million registered voters who are at least 60 will vote by mail in the August primary election due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On Friday, Elections Administrator Jeff Roberts said Davidson County is already seeing a large demand for absentee ballots, requiring the election commission to hire extra staffers to keep up with the demand.
“For normal August elections we would not be having any poll officials to help at this early date, this is pretty much unprecedented,” Roberts said.
The county recently received about $672,000 in federal funding to help cover the increase in salaries, extra supplies and postage.
Roberts said the county has bought 75,000 pens for in-person voting during the August primary and is now planning how to clean and store them so they can be reused for the general election. Roberts said they anticipate placing each pen in a container, after just one use by a voter, and not reopening the container until November.
Tennessee was reporting 290 deaths from the coronavirus on Friday.