Tennessee Republican Governor Strips Mask Mandate Authority From Health Departments

Tennessee’s local health departments will no longer have the power to enact mask mandates beginning on Wednesday, Republican Governor Bill Lee announced

Per Daily Wire:

Tennessee’s local health departments will no longer have the power to enact mask mandates beginning on Wednesday, Republican Governor Bill Lee announced in a press conference Tuesday morning. 

The governor’s decision will go into effect through Executive Order 80, which contains a provision that the governor’s office said will both strip the power to enact mask mandates from most health departments and “address economic and regulatory functions” around the state.

“After more than a year of public-led health interventions, we’re in a different season. It’s time to shift our focus now more toward recovery, and not restrictions,” said Lee. 

While the governor’s executive order doesn’t affect the six health departments that operate in Tennessee under local instead of state authority — including Davidson County, home of Nashville — Lee said that his office has spoken with officials in each of those counties and told them that the governor wants any mandates to end by May 30. 

“We think that will be happening in cities across our state,” he said.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper, a Democrat, announced separately on Tuesday that capacity limitations in the city would be lifted on May 14. The mask mandate for indoor businesses, however, would remain in place, and Cooper did not indicate when it would be lifted. 

Lee acknowledged that, while COVID-19 continues to affect Tennessee residents, the novel coronavirus no longer represents a threat that rises to the level of a state-wide crisis. The governor suggested that the positive developments could be attributed to Tennesseans taking personal responsibility and to the availability of new tools for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccines. 

“Above all else, Tennesseans have embraced the idea of personal responsibility, and have allowed us to get in this state from a public health crisis to a managed health issue. For the first time since COVID-19, vaccine has become a reality. It has been made available to everyone who wants it in every single county of this state,” said Lee.

The governor, speaking to reporters in a press conference, emphasized the wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines across the state and encouraged people to get it. “Anyone can get a vaccine today, no appointment necessary. I got a vaccine. It’s safe, it’s the most effective way to manage our health, and more Tennesseans are doing that every day,” he said. 

Lee also said that he was pulling “The Tennessee Pledge,” a set of pandemic guidelines that were issued for businesses across the state earlier in the pandemic. While those business guidelines were never mandatory, the governor said it was important to “retire” them to send a “clear message” that residents “know how to manage their own day-to-day operations without a government playbook.”

The “Tennessee Pledge” was no longer available on the state government’s website as of late Tuesday.

1 year, 11 months ago

Governors in Iowa, North Dakota and Alabama join GOP colleagues in banning TikTok for state employees

The Republican governors of three more states have joined the growing number of GOP governors who are banning TikTok among state government employees amid security concerns about the Chinese-owned social media platform

1 year, 11 months ago

Arizona Governor Creates Shipping Container Border Wall

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has had hundreds of double-stacked shipping containers topped with razor wire placed on the state’s border with Mexico

1 year, 11 months ago

Stacey Abrams’s Georgia Nonprofit Could Face Criminal Investigations for Unlicensed Fundraising

New Georgia Project's charity license has lapsed in at least nine states

1 year, 11 months ago

Biden says ‘more important things’ than border visit, despite 59 trips to Delaware, 8 stops for ice cream

Biden has yet to visit southern border despite historic crisis under his watch

1 year, 11 months ago

Governor Kristi Noem delivers annual Budget Address, says the state can afford grocery tax cut

In about thirty minutes of remarks, Governor Kristi Noem laid out her administration would like to see nearly $2.2 billion spent over the course of the next fiscal year and a half.

1 year, 11 months ago

‘A Clear And Present Danger To Its Users:’ South Carolina Gov. Bans State Employees From Using TikTok Amid National Security Concerns

South Carolina became the second state in the union Monday to permanently ban state employees’ electronic devices from using TikTok amid federal officials sounding the alarm that the Chinese-based social media app threatens national security