Nashville restaurants and bars account for only 80 of 21,770 Nashville COVID-19 cases.

by Rod Williams - Well, what do you know?  It seems bars and resturants are  no more likely to spread Covid-19 than are hordes of protestors.  So far, of Nashville's of 21,770 cases only “more than 80 cases” are attributable to  bars and resturants. It is an insignificant number.  That few cases hardly justifies the many people's lives being destroyed by Metro's shut down of bars and the destruction of the Nashville live music scene.  

Many in the entertainment and  hospitality industry get a lot of their income from tips and many work not as contract labor but as truly self-employed.  A lot of the bands do not get a 1099, but work for the tip jar.  I don't know how many are getting unemployment and the extra $600. Some people working "gig" economy, like Uber drivers, did get the extra $600, but normally self employed people are not eligible for unemployment. I am assuming many of the musician who make a living performing in the bars of lower Broadway did not qualify for the Cares $600.  If anyone has insight or data on this please share it.

In any event, this lock down is devastating to the Nashville live music scene.  Bars have lost three months income on top of being hit with a much larger property tax bill.  They simply cannot survive if they cannot operate.  Many of the muicians who work lower Broadway have had to move away. 

To read more about the devastation the needless shutdown of bar and resturants has visited upon the live music scene and how it is destroying people's lives, read this article published in Tennessee Lookout.

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