Gov. Bill Lee: As hospitalizations rise, closing down Tennessee’s economy again not on the table – Tennessean
While pleading with Tennesseans to wear masks — and affirming that doing so is not a political statement — Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday said bringing back restrictions that would once again hamper the state’s economy is still off the table.
“I’m not at any point considering closing the economy back down,” Lee said, noting there are “levers and options” to pull around expanding health care capacity.
Some other states, including Texas, have reverted back to previous phases of restrictions as coronavirus cases have continued to mount.
Instead, the governor said members of hospital systems in Tennessee have indicated a desire to take the lead, ahead of the government, on solving capacity issues.
Lee and Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said the state continues to have adequate capacity in hospitals. Piercey said during a bad flu season, the state’s hospital capacity could decrease to single digits. On Tuesday, the state reported as many 2,600 of 12,300 hospital floor beds remain available.
While 870 people are currently hospitalized in the state with the coronavirus, Piercey said rates of ICU admissions and ventilator use had not risen as steeply as the hospitalization rate in general, which she called “a credit to the things we have learned over the last several months.”
They said that the state had received 8,000 units of remdesivir from the federal government, a “promising drug that is used on the sickest of the sick” that was distributed to hospitals around the state. More is expected to be readily available later this summer.
Piercey said no hospital in the state is in “crisis mode” due to a shortage of beds, but said hospitals in the state’s largest urban areas, specifically Memphis and Nashville, are “starting to feel some strain from the increased hospitalization and ICU rates.”
On Tuesday, the state reported 1,500 new cases of COVID-19 in Tennessee, bringing the total to more than 66,700 since early March. Tennessee saw one of its largest single-day increases in hospitalizations since the pandemic began as 94 more were reported Tuesday.
More than 767 Tennesseans have died from COVID-19.
Lee also touted safety measures in place for a Wednesday night NASCAR race in Bristol that is expected to draw tens of thousands of people — including thousands of masks donated by Northeast Tennessee businesses. He said the race could pave the way for a return to outdoor sporting events this fall.
“There has been an awful lot of political talk about masks,” Lee said, holding up a “Bristol Strong” mask he said he plans to wear at the race Wednesday. “This mask right here is not conservative, is not liberal. Shaming someone for wearing a mask or shaming someone for not wearing a mask is just not something that Tennesseans ought to be in the business of doing.”
While earlier in his briefing Lee urged state residents to wear masks whenever possible, including when they head to the polls in the coming weeks, he deflected when asked whether he would like to see more state lawmakers and other politicians set an example on wearing masks.
As Republican state legislators and the two front-running GOP candidates for U.S. Senate have campaigned and attended political events throughout the summer, few have worn masks.
“I think I’ve been pretty clear that I, um,” he said, pausing after being asked about fellow Republican elected officials needing to set an example. “I think that I never want to close down businesses again and one of the ways that we can do that is by mitigating the spread of the virus. And there’s pretty good evidence that wearing masks mitigates the spread of that virus. So I encourage any Tennessean to engage in wearing masks.”
Lee’s continued defense of Tennessee’s COVID-19 approach comes as Democrats increased their criticism on Tuesday.
In a morning conference call with reporters, Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, offered sharp critiques of Lee while calling for the state to completely re-assess its approach.
“Our problem in Tennessee, just like it is in the country, is whether we’re willing to do what we know works or whether we’re going to have to wait and reach an even deeper level of crisis before we respond appropriately,” he said.
Citing the recent rise in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, Yarbro said every metric indicates Tennessee is headed in the wrong direction.
“It’s time that we abandon the wishful thinking that this is just going to go away, and it’s also time to acknowledge that the response of the Tennessee state government isn’t working,” he said, calling for a change of direction from the Lee administration.
“At the end of the day, you can’t lead people if you’re not willing to level with them. And all of us in Tennessee need Bill Lee to level with us and acknowledge that the status quo is not working. We need a statewide plan and we need it now.”
Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, called for the state to heed the advice of medical experts more than it has done so far, hire more contact tracers and issue a statewide mask mandate.
“Let’s get the politics out of it, let’s focus on the policy and let’s help make our state healthier,” she said.
Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.
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Published 6:07 PM EDT Jul 14, 2020
