Bill Lee’s COVID19 Response Failure

Our Governor’s weak, feckless response to COVID19 is costing lives. He can’t name a single expert that supports his decision to reopen schools. They don’t have the testing ability to follow CDC guidelines, yet Lee says they are “safely” reopening schools (“to the degree that it’s possible”). His administration has dragged its feet with regard to transparency throughout this crisis, and lab turnaround times are still severely lagging, putting more lives at risk.

And yet the special session called for the week of August 10th will be focusing on weakening worker protections within the context of COVID19 and further criminalizing the protesters who have been occupying the plaza outside the State Capitol. They will also be strategizing ways to expand telehealth, which is the one positive aspect of the upcoming special session.

Watch the videos below to see just where our Governor’s priorities lie:

WATCH: "Just to be clear, YOU DON'T HAVE AN EXPERT you can point to that says 'Now is the time to reopen?'"

Surprising no one, @GovBillLee can't reference a single expert that agrees with his decision to open schools given the severity of #COVID19 in TN.

Failure of Leadership. pic.twitter.com/ghv7HGT2qa

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) August 5, 2020

WATCH ? "Does your administration have a transparency problem?"@GovBillLee responds by saying that they've "moved toward transparency" (???) but want to respect privacy.

Privacy is important. But he has repeatedly not listened to experts on how to be effectively transparent. pic.twitter.com/7q1YVX3MHp

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) August 5, 2020

WATCH ? "We brought together members of law enforcement, TBI, sheriff's departments, etc to make reforms."@GovBillLee on how he's "addressing" police brutality in response to a question about why he wants to pass legislation that will further criminalize protesters @plaza_tn. pic.twitter.com/bPdDwmeZc7

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) August 5, 2020

.@NC5PhilWilliams: “If you don’t have the testing ability to follow CDC guidelines, how can you say you’re safely reopening schools?” @GovBillLee: “We follow the guidelines to the degree that it’s possible.” ? pic.twitter.com/NUngt50iFI

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) August 6, 2020

.@TNDeptofHealth: “Lab test turnaround times are just north of 3 days.” @NC5PhilWilliams: “3 days?” @TNDeptofHealth: “Ok not 3 days…” ? pic.twitter.com/awuKihlEGZ

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) August 6, 2020