Nashville security officers idled at home
Nashville TN March 18 2020
You don’t have to look far around Nashville to find a security officer.
Walking in the entertainment district along Broadway and on Second Avenue, security
can be found in the honky-tonks, hotels, nightclubs, museums and eateries.
But, over the weekend, the Metro Board of Health voted unanimously to declare a public health emergency due to the coronavirus.
Under that declaration, Metro Public Health Director Dr. Michael Caldwell, with a recommendation from Mayor John Cooper, has mandated that all bars in Davidson County, including on Lower Broadway, must close temporarily to limit the spread of the virus.
That means the typically packed sidewalks on Lower Broadway are eerily empty Monday night, and may stay that way for an indefinite amount of time.
This will undoubtedly have a significant impact on tourism, and on hundreds of people who work in this normally booming district including security officers, bouncers and their supervisors.
Hotels in Nashville have already experienced a decline in reservations, causing layoffs that could include some from the security staff.
Bar owners, bartenders, musicians, security guards; these are the people helping to keep Nashville’s booming tourism industry alive and well on Lower Broadway every single day. But now, most of these workers, like audio technician David Joseph, are jobless. For how long? No one knows.
One security guard who normally works at a hotel right in the heart of Nashville has seen his hours dwindled down to just 12 hours a week.
Malls, music and sporting events and schools have all closed up shop for at least two weeks in Nashville putting an estimated 300 security officers out of work for an unknown amount of time.
But the reality is, most security officers won’t be able to collect unemployment benefits and few
have a bank account with enough money to weather the storm.
Many security officers, like others who work in other professions, will face financial hardships, including evictions or having utility services shut off.
It’s the unknown Frank, a 41-year-old Nashville security officer said. No one knows how long this virus will hang around or when we’ll be back to work.
