Gov. Bill Lee says it's time for all COVID-19 restrictions to be over in Tennessee
Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday he is removing the authority of most Tennessee counties to impose mask mandates, while urging the remaining few large cities with mandates in place to drop them by the end of May.
"It's time for government to get out of the business of public health interventions," Lee said during a briefing with reporters, explaining the state is also abandoning voluntary guidelines it had released last year for businesses to follow, such as distancing and mask policies.
A state website for the guidelines, known as the Tennessee Pledge, had been removed Tuesday morning.
"It's time for celebrations, weddings and conventions and concerts and parades and proms and everything in between to happen without limits on gathering sizes or other arbitrary restrictions for those events," Lee said.
Lee never implemented a statewide mask mandate, but last year did restrict gathering sizes as a health precaution.
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Through executive orders, he allowed county mayors to implement their own mask mandates locally, while Tennessee's largest counties, including the ones containing Nashville and Memphis, still have the authority to issue mask mandates. Health departments in the largest counties are not run by the state.
The governor’s announcement followed Nashville health officials announcing earlier Tuesday morning they would lift all virus restrictions on the operations and capacities of businesses and gatherings on May 14, but is keeping in place its indoor mask mandate for the time being.
Lee's signing of a new executive order in place of the expiring one upholds deregulation policies the governor enacted last year for many business and public operations. Despite Lee announcing the coronavirus public health emergency is over, the new order continues Tennessee's state of emergency, which allows the state to receive additional federal funding for various programs.
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Tennessee vaccination rates plummeting
His announcement comes as the Tennessee coronavirus outbreak sits at a simmer and as vaccinations transition from slow to slower.
For about two months, Tennessee has reported between 1,000 and 1,500 infections per day and the statewide positivity rate has hovered at about 6% to 8%, which is below the White House threshold for alarm. Tennessee has reported less than 20 deaths per day for nearly a month.
The state also has one of the slowest vaccination rollouts in the nation. As of Monday, less than 34% of Tennesseans had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, about 9 percentage points lower than the national average. Tennessee is ranked 45th among all states for shots given, according to Bloomberg News' vaccine tracker, which uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The pace of vaccinations in Tennessee also plummeted by 41% last week, suggesting the state was hitting a vaccine hesitancy plateau.
Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said in a separate call with reporters Tuesday that Tennessee’s drop in vaccination pace was a more pronounced and “disturbing” version of a nationwide trend. Demand has been so low that Tennessee recently needed less than 20% of the vaccine supply it is allotted by the federal government, she said.
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Lee at the briefing reiterated he believes COVID-19 vaccines are safe and that he has received his two doses, but appeared to became agitated when pressed by reporters about why he did not use the opportunity to encourage people who are vaccine hesitant to also do so.
"It’s a personal, private decision and that’s how I did it," Lee said of his choice not to share photos or video of receiving the shot, as he regularly does from his other outings and activities.
Last year, Lee posted a photo to social media of him receiving a flu shot, encouraging others in the state to do so as well.
Polling in the state suggests hesitancy is most common among white, rural Republicans who make up a large portion of Lee’s political base.
Piercey said the state government will try to overcome hesitancy with a public awareness campaign tackling misinformed concerns that the vaccines are more dangerous than the virus itself. The campaign will begin launching “digital media” later this week and “more traditional media” in the middle of May, she said.
At least three commercials targeting different hesitant groups are in production, she said.
“People are concerned the vaccines were developed too quickly, and they have safety concerns because they think shortcuts were taken,” Piercey said on the call with reporters. “I want to reassure you and your readers and viewers — there were no shortcuts in safety."
Lee stressed that the return to normal in Tennessee was occurring as vaccines have been available for more than a month to anyone 16 or older in the state.
COVID-19 vaccinations in Tennessee
Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.
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