Mayor Berke closings

New declarations in Chattanooga and Hamilton County on Monday.

Chattanooga mayor andy berke says you will be safer if you stay at home.

And to help with that, he's asking a number of businesses to close down on wednesday.

That includes indoor areas of shopping malls and all retail stores.

Hair and nail salons, beauty shops, and barbershops are also being closed down in chattanooga.

Plus, massage parlors, spas, tanning salons, and tattoo parlors.

This does not include grocery stores.

They will remain open.

There are 23 coronavirus cases in our coverage area, and 12 more in neighboring counties.

That count includes 8 cases here in hamilton county.

At the same time, the hamilton county mayor issued a state of emergency.

Mayor jim coppinger held a media briefing this afternoon to make the announcement.

He says it became apparent this morning that the county needed to declare an emergency in order to help small businesses file disaster relief insurance.

So far in hamilton county, there have been 8 confirmed so far in hamilton county, there have been 8 confirmed positive cases, at least 168 negative cases.

Currently, there are 77 people being monitored.