When Nashville reopens, should older people go to restaurants and return to work?

Nashville will start to open Monday, but Metro officials and doctors are pleading with older residents to stay at home.

Restaurants and retail stores will open at half capacity next week in a transition to the first phase of reopening the city. But during a public webinar Thursday, Davidson County residents 65 years and older were told not to risk exposure to COVID-19.

“The city is opening. More traffic will happen out there. More people will be going around and being vectors,” said Dr. Alex Jahangir, chairman of the Nashville coronavirus task force. “It is critical that if you can avoid that, please avoid it. 

“I know it’s hard. The new normal won’t happen now, but getting back to what we knew won’t happen until there’s a vaccine.”

Jahangir also warned older Nashvillians “are not the group that needs to be talking about herd immunity.”

The state’s COVID-19 cases reached at least 14,096 Thursday, the Tennessee Department of Health announced. And of those infected, 237 have died. Older people have been the most vulnerable group.

“Eighty-five percent of mortality in Tennessee is individuals age 60 and above and those with chronic illnesses,” Dr. James Powers, who practices geriatric medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “Nursing home residents have 10 times the risk of dying of this disease compared to the rest of the population.

“It is not safe yet for senior citizens to be out and about. So we have to help them adapt to the safer-at-home policy that is still very appropriate for our senior citizens.”

What to do if you're lonely

Grace Smith, executive director for the Council on Aging of Middle Tennessee, said the biggest challenges for older people during the pandemic are food and medication access, caregiver support and social isolation.

Older people can be especially susceptible to depression and anxiety during the safer-at-home order. There are resources to help.

Smith suggested older people actively make phone calls and, if possible, utilize FaceTime, Zoom and other video conferencing apps to stay connected. She said there are also programs like AARP's "Community Connections" and the Commission on Aging and Disability's "Care Through Conversation," where older adults can have someone call them once a week to check on their mental health.

Should older Nashvillians return to work?

While Nashville restaurants and stores will reopen Monday, gyms, salons and barbershops are expected to remain closed for at least another 14 days, according to a “Roadmap for Reopening” released by the mayor’s office.

That means more Nashvillians will start returning to workplaces over the next few weeks. But should that include older people?

Jahangir recommended that they remain home if possible. But if they go back to work, they should try to negotiate with their employer to take extra precautions.

“Perhaps they can place you in an office that’s separate from others, or maybe you can be walled off in some other way,” Jahangir said. “Maybe have staggered hours, either earlier or later than the crowd, so you don’t have to be in elevators with a lot of people.”

Is someone immune if they’ve recovered from COVID-19?

Nashville Mayor John Cooper's office on Thursday announced 3,342 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nashville/Davidson County. Of those, 1,756 have recovered.

On the webinar, the panel was asked if older person who recovered from a COVID-19 case should consider themselves immune or continue to follow guidelines for their age group.

Powers said not to assume anyone is immune, especially older people.

“We don’t know the extent of the immunity. That is a very new question for us,” Powers said. “We are recommending that you don’t want to catch it again. Just like the flu, you don’t want to get it again.

“Whether you can get infected again is really an unknown. The best recommendation is to continue considering yourself still vulnerable.”

Reach Adam Sparks at asparks@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.