November 17, 2020
Governor Bill Lee:
Thank you all for joining us today. As we return for the weekly press briefing, last week we had budget hearings all week, heard from our departments all across the state on the budgets that they are proposing and the plans that they have for next year. We had a very productive week, but today we're going to catch up with details regarding COVID-19 cases in Tennessee and what we're doing at the state level to address that.
Governor Bill Lee:
What looks to be has been a very difficult few weeks and will be difficult weeks ahead, especially on the COVID front. COVID-19 cases in the United States are climbing and they're breaking new records every day. We're seeing states across the country dealing with overcrowded hospitals, surging deaths, very difficult choices on the horizon, and our cases in Tennessee as well have climbed steadily. And that with more time indoors, as is happening, we expect that's going to continue to happen as well.
Governor Bill Lee:
So I am, especially this week, in light of where we are in this pandemic, asking Tennesseans to stop and think about how it is that they carry out their everyday lives, especially how they're going to celebrate the holidays. I'm asking every Tennessean to make good, common sense decisions about a pandemic that spreads with close contact with people. And so we have to make good common sense decisions, especially as we make decisions around gathering with friends and family, particularly family members that are older. Until we have a live spread distribution of a COVID-19 vaccination available, holidays and routine choices that we make this year should look different. We encourage Tennesseans to recognize that we're in a very different spot this holiday season than we have been before.
Governor Bill Lee:
For the first time in my life, for example, the Lee family will not be gathering for our traditional, extended family holiday dinner at the farm. That was a difficult one for our family since we've done it every year of my life, but we all determined together that it wasn't wise to gather, to put a lot of people in my mom's house, and especially because she's 87 years old. That decision was tough for us, but it doesn't have to be discouraging. A few of us will eat dinner on the back porch and change the way we do it. For me and for my family, Thanksgiving isn't just about a meal anyway. It's about being thankful for the many blessings that God has given us in spite of the challenges that we all face.
Governor Bill Lee:
So I encourage Tennesseans, all across the state, to recognize what a very difficult spot and to think through how it is that they make personal choices. We're going to all have to, over this winter, over the next eight, 10, 12 weeks, remind ourselves that it is a season of common sense. And even though it is the holiday season, and it still can be the most wonderful time of the year, in spite of the fact that this is a very challenging year for many Tennesseans, personal responsibility is important. I say that a lot. I'll say it again. Embracing behavior personally around wearing a mask and washing your hands and staying apart, especially as we enter into this season, that's the way to ensure that we protect the health of one another. It's also the way do we ensure that businesses are open, schools are open and we can continue to move forward and mitigate as much as we can.
Governor Bill Lee:
It's the state's responsibility, however, to provide infrastructure during this crisis and we are doing so. We'll talk a little bit about that today. The different pieces of infrastructure that we continue to build upon for this COVID-19 response, the infrastructure that served us well in that last nine months, but that we will have to even strengthen over the next several weeks. Pretesting, regardless of symptoms, partnering with our healthcare system and providing funding for staffing and putting our final touches on distribution of a vaccine here in the next few weeks.
Governor Bill Lee:
As for testing, we've announced extended availability for COVID-19 testing this upcoming weekend. We are also providing extended hours on the Monday before Thanksgiving. So Tennesseans, when in doubt, get a test. Free access to testing all across the state. At the state level, we also continue to partner directly with hospitals. It's incredibly important that we have enough staff, that we have enough hospital beds as case counts increase and hospitalizations increase, COVID-19 patients are headed to the hospitals in record numbers in our state. And while we're concerned about the COVID-19 patients, we're also concerned about the other people that need access to healthcare, trauma, accidents, heart attacks, strokes. We need to make sure that we have capacity on our healthcare system. And we're working with the Tennessee Hospital Association and other providers to make sure that we do just that.
Governor Bill Lee:
Our hospitals, by the way, working overtime to make sure that we have this capacity, and I want to commend doctors and healthcare providers and hospitals and healthcare workers all across our state, who are, I know personally because we engage with them on a daily basis, who are being innovative and creative to make sure that we have this capacity. Adequate staff is the most important part of this equation, and we have taken steps at the state, both from a deregulation standpoint and expanded scope of practice standpoint. Funding for providers, for assistance, for staffing. And I want to encourage you out there, if you are a retired healthcare worker or if you are medically trained and not currently engaged in the healthcare system, we encourage you to reach out to the Tennessee Department of Health if you want to help by being a healthcare provider at a time when our state needs additional healthcare staffing and healthcare workers.
Governor Bill Lee:
One of the most important aspects of our response is building a dependable infrastructure to distribute the approved COVID-19 vaccines as they become available in our state. Every day we're one step closer to a safe and effective vaccine. I've asked Dr. Piercey to provide an update on our distribution plan as three pharmaceutical companies are showing very promising results, and she'll give that report in a minute.
Governor Bill Lee:
But before she shares that, I want to thank Pfizer for choosing Tennessee as one of four pilot states to partner with our state to deliver and deploy COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer selected our state because of our plan, because of our ability to build out a strong infrastructure. And we're thankful for that partnership and what it means to Tennessee. Our state's ready to receive vaccines and distribute the what will initially be limited supplies in December. Dr. Piercey, if you would come up and share a few more details about how we can expect to have that vaccine, who will get it first. And for those who choose to get a vaccine, we want to remind Tennesseans that there will be very limited quantities to start with, but we expect that early in spring of 2021, the vaccine will be made widely available to greater levels of the population. Dr. Piercey why don't you add some detail to that, please?
Doctor Piercey:
Thank you, Governor. Good afternoon. I'll address the growing number of cases in the state, efforts we're making to keep our hospital capacity stable, an update, as he mentioned, on vaccine distribution and expanding testing efforts over the Thanksgiving holiday. It's been a couple of weeks since I've given you an update so I have a pretty robust report today. First, as the governor mentioned, and I'm sure you already know, we continue to see record numbers of cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations. October was our highest month on record and November is on pace to even exceed that. Likewise, our positivity rates continue to climb with the last few weeks producing daily positivity rates in the double digits. Our seven day positivity rate is 13.9%.
Doctor Piercey:
In order to ensure appropriate identification and control of this virus, we want to have this number in the 5% or less range. And despite widespread availability of testing, the recent high positivity rates really worry us because they tell us people aren't getting tested. They're either not getting tested because they choose not to, or because they're not showing symptoms. Please hear me clearly, we cannot control the spread of this virus if we don't know who has it. So, I implore you to get tested if you're symptomatic or even if you're feeling well and think you may have been exposed.
Doctor Piercey:
The other very concerning metric is our persistent rise in hospitalizations. That's also accompanied by decreasing capacity in both inpatient and ICU beds statewide. Throughout Tennessee, COVID patients account for approximately 20% of all inpatient beds and 30% of all ICU beds. As the governor mentioned, and you've heard our hospital partners say many times, their ability to maintain available beds for all conditions, not just COVID, is not unlimited. Now, this is primarily due to staffing challenges, secondary to under supplied and overextended healthcare workers. I want to acknowledge our state's nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, lab techs, EMTs, and paramedics, and all other crucial healthcare personnel who are working tirelessly around the clock pulling extra shifts and overtime while sacrificing their own family time, much needed rest, and in some cases, even their own health for the benefit of patients all throughout Tennessee. It is imperative that we take responsibility for our own actions to support the well-being not only of our healthcare workforce, but also our hospitals and their ability to care for all patients who need them.
Doctor Piercey:
Now, for some good news, there've been some very encouraging announcements in the last couple of weeks about vaccines in the pipeline. I'm sure you've heard, and the governor mentioned, both Pfizer and Moderna have recently released preliminary information about the efficacy of their vaccine products currently in phase three clinical trials. While the actual data has not yet been published, the companies both report effectiveness in excess of 90%. If this indeed is accurate, this far exceeds what we had initially expected and is an incredibly encouraging advancement towards widespread herd immunity, which is what we need to get to the other side of this pandemic.
Doctor Piercey:
The vaccine approval process is built to ensure the safest possible option for the maximum number of people. We believe the efforts over the last nine months have been comprehensive and will ensure a safe solution for Tennesseans and will not require any additional approval at the state level. Recent information indicates that one or both of these companies, Pfizer and Moderna, will submit efficacy data to the FDA within the coming month. And then once the FDA has all of the information that they've requested, it will likely take them several days to a few weeks to issue their final decision. Fortunately, after that final decision is issued, vaccine distribution to states could occur in as short as 24 hours. Once we have the vaccine product here in hand, here in Tennessee, we will begin deploying our distribution plan immediately. As a reminder, that distribution plan is 40 pages long and it's found on our website. So if you're curious, I encourage you to check that out.
Doctor Piercey:
I want you to hear me clearly, this initially will not be widely available. The limited supply initially will require prioritization. Our top priority is health care workers and first responders, and specifically those in the high risk categories in those two groups that I just mentioned. Widespread availability for the public will likely not occur until spring of 2021. However, we are planning to be ready to distribute vaccine on December 1st. Distribution of approved vaccine will be unlike any other process we've ever undertaken, as both of the vaccine candidates currently require extremely cold temperatures and special handling procedures.
Doctor Piercey:
At the state level, we've demonstrated high capacity and ability to build out infrastructure quickly, which is why Pfizer chose Tennessee as one of its four pilot sites. We're really proud of that, and we're looking forward to working with them. We're pleased to partner with Pfizer and look forward to demonstrating our solid infrastructure to them and the rest of the nation. I realize that this is our really high interest topic, so I'll be sure to keep you updated as it progresses.
Doctor Piercey:
Finally, I want to highlight a couple of important upcoming dates. This Thursday, November 19th, and next Monday, November 23rd. On Thursday of this week, the 19th, the Tennessee Department of Health will be hosting its annual Fight Flu Tennessee event, where we will be giving free flu shots to any Tennessean age six months or older in every county of the state. Keeping yourself protected against the flu is a very important step that you personally can take to not only stay healthy yourself this winter, but to also reduce demand on hospitals during the peak flu hospitalization season, which is typically December through February. Please visit our website at tn.gov/health for locations of the free flu shots this Thursday.
Doctor Piercey:
Also, on Monday of next week, November 23rd, we'll be hosting extended hours for free COVID testing all across the state. Many of the sites will be open from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and we've made special arrangements for patients getting tested this day to receive their results within approximately 48 hours. We're offering this extended testing event in preparation for holiday closures at our local health departments over the Thanksgiving holiday, as well as to make sure people know their status and make informed decisions in the coming days. You can find more information on specific testing sites and their hours at COVID19.tn.gov.
Doctor Piercey:
We appreciate your persistent efforts. We know you're tired and we're tired too, but you have to keep up the fight by wearing your mask, avoiding unnecessary gatherings and getting tested if you're sick or think you may have been exposed. This holiday season, I encourage you to be thoughtful and use common sense. Choices we make over Thanksgiving and Christmas will significantly impact what kind of winter we have and just how sick our state gets with both flu and COVID. In my own family, we are re-imagining many of our holiday traditions to ensure that it's safe for all involved, including my parents and my 92 year old grandmother. This Thanksgiving will be a smaller gathering for us and I encourage every Tennesseean to consider the same. Thank you.
Governor Bill Lee:
Thank you, Doctor Piercey. I'll have some closing comments when we're done with questions. And commissioner Barnes is here just for you all's information. Commissioner Schwinn is here to answer any questions you have about education and happy to start.
Speaker 1:
I know last week you said you weren't going to be requiring not going to have a mask mandate in the state, but as more COVID cases are reported and as things may continue to get worse in Tennessee, is that something that you and the people in your office are still talking about?
Governor Bill Lee:
Yeah, we talk about masks and how important it is every day. And I want Tennesseans to hear me clearly that wearing a mask is one of the most important personal decisions that people can make. I do believe that we have a strategy in this state to get adherence, to encourage people to wear masks. Carnegie Mellon just released a study that showed that 80% of Tennesseans say they wear a mask most or all of the time. Almost 70% of our population is under a mask requirement as a result of local county mayors making those decisions. We believe that shows that that strategy's working. We think it's the right one for our state. We talk about it every day.
Speaker 2:
Is there ever a point where you would consider a mask mandate?
Governor Bill Lee:
As I've said throughout this pandemic, there's nothing off the table. But for now, what we believe is the strategy we're taking is actually working, may well be working better than a statewide mask mandate would work and so that's why we've taken that approach.
Speaker 3:
Governor, just to follow up on what Kyle asked, but what would you say to the people because you've stood by your strategy and asking and preaching personal responsibility for a while, but to the people that are getting angsty that wonder if this gets a little bit worse, at what point can you assure them, or to what degree can you assure them that it's not going to be, I mean, a real crisis. Now calling this not a crisis right now is a misnomer, but can you assure them or how can you assure them that it's not going to get to that point?
Governor Bill Lee:
We have a real crisis. I can assure Tennessee that we have a real crisis. That is the reason that Tennesseans should in fact, strongly consider what they do personally and how it is that they make their decisions going forward. The state has a response to that crisis as well. That's the reason that we are providing expanded and increased testing. It's incredibly important as Dr. Piercey said, it's why we're providing funding for staffing, for healthcare providers, and working hand in hand to make sure that we have capacity for those that get sick. It's why we're developing a very strong distribution process for vaccines. That is the state's response to the crisis that we are facing. And Tennesseans personally have an opportunity to respond to that as well.
Speaker 3:
I was just going to ask you, are you going to go to the Republican retreat? They're holding that Thursday. Do you think it's a good idea whether you're going to go or not?
Governor Bill Lee:
Yeah. I've been asked to go and just like every event that I go to, I'll be wearing a mask and the room will be distanced, and I will make sure that my participation there will be safe.
Speaker 4:
Hi, Governor. I think this question is for Dr. Piercey regarding hospital staff. I was wondering if maybe you could talk a little bit about where the state is right now and in terms of particularly with surge capacity with the surge hospitals, where is the state in terms of levels?
Doctor Piercey:
Sure. So as the Governor mentioned and you referenced, hospital capacity is almost exclusively about staffing. You've heard me say many times, physical space, physical beds, not the issue. One of the recent levers we've pulled that has some promise to expand that workforce as the Governor mentioned is deregulation. That was executive order number 67, where it allows for the flexibility of different use of personnel within a hospital. We have just gotten the first two plans and I'm fairly excited about them. They're creative, they're innovative, and prove the point that we've been saying, hospitals know how to manage their capacity better than we do.
Doctor Piercey:
And so we're looking forward to seeing more hospitals put forth those plans. I think those are forthcoming in the next few days.
Speaker 4:
The more hospitals make those plans, do you imagine the surge of the hospitals then to be opening or where are we with it in terms of that?
Doctor Piercey:
So right now hospitals are still able to surge within their own facilities, but I think you're referencing our alternative care sites.
Speaker 4:
Sorry, yes [crosstalk].
Doctor Piercey:
That's okay. Yeah. So we have one in Memphis and one here in Nashville and they're great, they're ready, but they need staff, too. And so we know that patients get more comfortable care and get quicker care oftentimes in the hospital itself because the infrastructure is already built, so we want to surge in place as much as we can. Those facilities are ready. They've been exercised multiple times throughout the spring and summer. And then when we need them, we can ramp up our staff, both from hospital and other sources, contract agency, et cetera, to do that.
Speaker 4:
And final question, in North Dakota I believe and in a couple of other states that the governors and the health commissioners have allowed staffers who have tested positive that are asymptomatic to go to work. Is that something that we're seeing here in Tennessee or is that being talked about right now in Tennessee?
Doctor Piercey:
That's not something that we've talked about widely here. The CDC does allow for COVID positive healthcare workers who are feeling well to work on COVID specific units, which makes sense. I don't know of that practice happening here, but that is something that could be considered if it comes to that. Thank you.
Speaker 5:
Dr. Piercey. I have two nuts and bolts questions for Dr. Piercey and a broader question for the Governor. You mentioned the weekly positivity rate. Did you say 13.9 or 13.09?
Doctor Piercey:
13.9 is what was on this week's White House report. That might be just slightly different than what it looks like if you calculate it from our daily data, because you'll remember the White House report has a little bit of a time lag associated with it, but sort of the official, most recent seven day average is 13.9.
Speaker 5:
Okay. And secondly, you mentioned special accommodations to get test results within 48 hours as some of the pre-Thanksgiving testing. Can you tell us how that works? Because that sounds great.
Doctor Piercey:
Sure. It will work great if all of the pieces [inaudible], I just want to be transparent with you. We don't know how to predict demand for next Monday. We have, in essence, talked to many of our lab partners that we use, not only our lab, but our commercial lab partners and have alerted them, "Hey, you might get a big bolus of test on Monday. Will you reserve some capacity for us?" This is not unlike when we do other large scale events like prison testing, et cetera. And so they have agreed to do so. We have labs across the state who have agreed to do so. In transparency, if a large, large number of people show up, that will naturally slow that down, but our goal is to have that turned around within 48 hours.
Speaker 5:
Okay. Governor.
Governor Bill Lee:
Yes, sir.
Speaker 5:
You just made your position clear again on a statewide mask mandate. Related, you have also been exceedingly resistant to adapt any type of business restrictions, like the ones that exist under Mayor Cooper here in Nashville, capping customers and restaurants, requiring sanitation practices instead of merely advising them, requiring social distancing practices. Across the vast majority of the state, businesses are not required to change anything about their operations to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Is it time to change that?
Governor Bill Lee:
You know, what we know particularly right now about this virus and what the White House has said, and studies are showing, the spread of this virus is happening not as a result of businesses, but more importantly as a result of small gatherings in people's homes, personal gatherings that people are having. We know that's where this is happening. And so closing businesses based on a lack of information that that's where cases are spreading is not a good idea. This pandemic wreaks havoc on livelihoods, and it has particularly when we had business closures, as well as lives. So we're taking the approach based on the information that we have in the data that we have, and that does not include closing businesses.
Speaker 5:
I understand that, but my question wasn't about closing businesses. Again in national-
Governor Bill Lee:
Restrictions on businesses.
Speaker 5:
Okay.
Speaker 6:
I actually have a question for Commissioner Schwinn.
Governor Bill Lee:
Okay.
Speaker 6:
Regarding the state comprehensive literacy program, I just wondered if you had an update on where the department is on choosing vendors for that literacy program.
Commissioner Schwinn:
We are currently moving through that procurement process. It's a pretty extensive process with the central procurement office. So those have not yet kind of, as we say, hit the street. When they do, there's a period of time in which anyone can apply, and then those will be reviewed with a pretty robust group of reviewers.
Speaker 6:
Okay, great. Thank you. And then, Governor, yesterday the Department of Health reported 63 times the number of cases as the day that you had your executive order limiting gatherings of 10 people or more. Are you considering an executive order that might limit gatherings of 10 people or more?
Governor Bill Lee:
Yeah, no, we're not right now. We know a lot more about this virus than we did at the time. And, if Dr. Piercey wants to comment on the backlog of cases and how you can't look at any one day's case count, and that may be all there is to say about that, but looking at a single day's case count, particularly in fact, in lieu of the fact that we had a significant backlog over the last couple of weeks that we're working through, as you saw today, was significantly less than that. But that's because you can't look at one day's numbers and make decisions based on that.
Speaker 7:
Governor, you spoke earlier about the very difficult decisions on the horizon. Could you tell me what they are as you see them?
Governor Bill Lee:
Yeah. They're decisions about what to do when hospital surge capacity is filled, decisions about what elective surgeries will have to be eliminated as a result of COVID patients, decisions about who gets vaccine when it first comes out. There are a lot of difficult decisions that will happen if and when the case counts and particularly the hospital capacity diminishes.
Speaker 7:
We're not there yet, but we're just about, or how would you describe that to Tennesseans with the hospitalizations?
Governor Bill Lee:
Well, you know, I actually will let Dr. Piercey talk about, just about, I will say that there is a surge capacity in every healthcare provider in this state, and they have not hit their surge capacity plans. They have those in place. You can talk specifically to that, but we're not there yet. We know that at the current trajectory, there will be a day when we get there. It's impossible to predict when that will be. But we have capacity in our healthcare system. Now, you want to add to that?
Doctor Piercey:
Chris, that's a hard number to give because not only do hospitalizations fluctuate literally by the minute. People are being discharged and admitted right now. And so we look at it on the whole, at 24 hours at a time. It's just a snapshot. We look at it by trends. And also I want come back and talk about the question that you talked about with case trends. The other reason that it's difficult to pinpoint exact capacity is because the capacity numbers or the surge capacity numbers that we have for hospitals are in a perfect state. If all of their workforce comes to work and all of their units are open, et cetera, the thing that we don't know is how many healthcare workers are sick themselves or out in quarantine. That could be as few as a handful. In large centers, it could be 50, 100, or 150 at a time based on various cases, whether it's in the community or at work.
Doctor Piercey:
And so we don't know the exact number today. We know it's around 15% hospital beds and about eight to 10, in some cases, 12% of ICU beds. That fluctuates day by day. But it really comes down to how many healthcare workers are healthy and on the job. And I will tell you, in addition to COVID and potentially flu, we also have the real possibility of burnout and healthcare workers are burning the candle at both ends. And so we have to do what we can to protect them and keep them on the job so they can take care of us. [inaudible] Sure.
Speaker 7:
You said you implore people to get tested. How often, and is that everybody, no matter how they're feeling? I mean, you may have said this a million times, but people go, "Oh my God, do I need to run down and get a test right now?"
Doctor Piercey:
That's a good question because I'm not advocating for everybody who's feeling well and doesn't have any reason to believe that they've been exposed to get tested. Because let me remind you, the test is only good for today. It doesn't mean you're going to be negative tomorrow or next week. It means you're negative today. But if you think you've been exposed, and that doesn't always just mean I've been in close contact with somebody that has a known positive case. That could mean they've been in a high risk setting, or they did travel and they were around people in a different locale or from a different household. Any reason for people who think they want to be tested, they can be tested here in Tennessee. If you're feeling well and don't have any reason to believe that you were ever exposed, it's probably pretty low yield to get tested, but I would err on the side of doing it if you're worried about it at all.
Doctor Piercey:
Quick response to your question about case counts and the governor's mention of trends. I do want to alert you to something that we will likely see on an ongoing basis. You may have heard me mention early on in this, our lab system, which is a national system, was built to run a few thousand tests a day. We're asking it to run tens of thousands of tests per day. And so what happens is, is it does the best it can, but as you're seeing more frequent slow downs of that and sometimes delayed data, just because the system is trying to keep up with the overwhelming number of tests that are going in there.
Doctor Piercey:
So for the last two and perhaps three weekends, what we've done is shut out all the users over the weekend. And so that way the system can catch up. So you will oftentimes see the first of the week front loaded like you did yesterday and sometimes, maybe even over Sunday and then it'll trail off. And so it's important to focus on trends like a five or seven day trend and not just one day.
Natalie:
Good afternoon, governor. You were talking earlier about difficult decisions that we're going to face soon. You had to make the decision, or your family did to cancel its large annual Thanksgiving gathering. But last week you did hold a large gathering at your farm, a fundraiser. Would you do that again? Was that the right decision to make?
Governor Bill Lee:
Well, as you know, every gathering is different. That gathering was outdoors and it was spread apart and people were able to socially distance outdoors at that event. It's really different than 45 family members in my mom's house for two hours for Thanksgiving dinner. That's the kind of common sense decisions that we have to make going forward is how are we going to do things that keep ourselves and others safe. That's common sense.
Natalie:
And I know that Tennessee has not issued guidance, like some states that have tried to cancel all Thanksgiving gatherings, and you've asked people to be smart about it. But I think a lot of people are still just sort of lost on what to do. I know you and Dr. Piercey have both said that you're scaling down your gatherings, but for a family who's planning on having 10 people gather indoors, is that something that's safe? Is there just somewhat more clear guidance for people on what to do, not even having a big gathering, but just a small one, should they do it?
Governor Bill Lee:
Well, let me just say, we're not going to mandate how a family gathers at Thanksgiving. I want to be real clear about that. But what we will do is encourage Tennesseans to think hard about that. Again, we have personal decisions to make, and the decisions are pretty easy, about staying apart, about doing things outdoors, about wearing a mask if you're going to be indoors. Those are the kinds of things that we've been saying for eight months. People know that. They understand what it takes to do that. Ultimately, they have to make the decision as to whether or not they're going to, and we certainly hope people will.
Natalie:
And did you want to add something to that, Dr. Piercey? Okay. And I have a question about the Department of Human Services.
Governor Bill Lee:
About what?
Natalie:
About the Department of Human Services. The Pandemic EBT Program is one that the department decided to go ahead and give cards to school districts to issue to families who didn't apply over the summer. In the public announcements about the program, the department has said, there's a 30 day time limit on the schools distributing those cards before they have to return them to DHS to be disposed of. That money is valid for almost another year, however, so I'm trying to determine, do you think that that's the right move for the department to make?
Governor Bill Lee:
You want to address that, Danielle?
Danielle:
So Natalie, thank you for the question. First, let me just start by saying, I have been incredibly pleased and proud with how the Department of Human Services has administered our Pandemic EBT Program. This is a program that was created by Congress, through act, with no guidance. And I think every state is still trying to figure it out. But I do say that Tennessee is receiving national attention for how we have administered this program. And I'm very proud of that and I'm want every Tennessean to know that they should be proud of that.
Danielle:
I also want to talk about your 30 day timeline, however. That is a timeline, because we have been very clear about operating this program with integrity. And we did have an application process upon which families could apply. We did a lot of outreach with a lot of our community partners and a lot of our advocates to encourage and help those families apply. And in the end of the day, we still try to reach the families that we couldn't reach through that process by our new process of getting those cards back into the school districts.
Danielle:
School districts have been working with families, and what we do know is that we can't have cards just lingering out in the universe with money on them for an indefinite amount of time. So we know that with the three-months application period, the time that we've given with our advocates, as well as this additional time for schools, and this school outreach, we believe that we can touch every family that's available. We also know that if schools are having a particularly difficult time, they can reach out to us and we can work with them.
Natalie:
So given that this is proving to be a burden for schools who are already trying to figure out a lot of other things to, to hurry up and get these cards to families within just a couple of weeks before having to return them to you all to be disposed of, do you think that the department should extend that period of time schools have to try to reach these families so that money doesn't go to waste?
Danielle:
Not across the board. I think what we have seen, especially for example, in Bradley County, we have seen some amazingly innovative things happening in the community. And that is exactly why the governor asked us to go this route, is that we know getting to the ground, getting in the communities, they are the ones that know how to work with their communities. So for example, in Bradley County, they had a day off where they opened up and had all the cards distributed at that particular day. Counties know how to work with that. So I don't think a universal extension is appropriate. However, as I mentioned, if a school is having a particular issue, they can certainly reach out to us and we are willing to work with them.
Natalie:
Through next September. Is there a reason that this would cause fraud, or it wouldn't be operating with integrity if you all did give schools a little bit more time to get these to families?
Danielle:
I believe I just mentioned schools are welcome to come and contact us if they need additional time. Again, what we don't want, and I think that the citizens would also agree, that we just don't want cards out there with money preloaded just floating out in the universe. And so it's a fine balance. And I think it's one that Tennessee has struck.
Natalie:
Thank you.
Danielle:
Thank you.
Speaker 8:
Governor, my question is for you, it's about schools, but you've been very vocal about the importance of keeping schools open during the pandemic. Given the high case counts does seem like it's becoming less of a reality. And I'm sure you heard about Metro schools making the announcement that after Thanksgiving, they'll probably go back to all virtual and then also surrounding counties have been closing more schools. And of course, Tennessee is not Iowa or Ohio, but Ohio, they changed this course, and they're implementing more restrictions and a mask mandate and Ohio is implementing a curfew now.
Speaker 8:
So with that in mind, are you willing to implement any additional restrictions for the sake of keeping kids in school buildings and maybe limiting restaurant capacity, or sports, just so that kids have a chance to go back to school?
Governor Bill Lee:
Yep. It's really important that kids are in-person in school. We know that. We all know that. We know that there's less loss of learning as a result of that. From the very beginning of this school year, we've worked, as you know we sent out 80,000 packets of PPE to every school classroom to protect teachers and to protect students. And the results have been really good. We've had, I don't know, Commissioner Schwinn, 14 weeks of school? We've had less than 1% of our schools at any one time be closed or partially closed as a result of this, we have 700,000 out of a million kids in-person, in school. And less than a 10th of a percent throughout most of that period of time of kids being absent from school, because of cases of COVID.
Governor Bill Lee:
That's a really good result. We want to continue that as long as we can do so. But our results have been good so far and we'll continue to support districts and their efforts. And let me just say, this is not because of what the state has done. This is because of what teachers, districts, superintendents, principals, administrators, have done to keep our kids in the classroom. We're proud of that. Local decision making occurs at districts with regard to their extension of in-person learning, but we're doing everything we can to make sure that they can.
Speaker 8:
So just a quick follow up. So are you saying that regarding the state intervening with restrictions or mask mandate is off the table when it comes to reopening schools?
Governor Bill Lee:
Well, I've said before, nothing's off the table at any time, but we look at what we believe is working and that's the strategy that we will implement. And what we're doing is working with regard to our schools, so that's the course we're going to stay.
Speaker 9:
Governor that's the time we have for questions today.
Governor Bill Lee:
So I'll close just by saying that here in just a little while, I'm going to have Dr. Piercey give me a flu shot. And I'm not just getting a flu shot for myself, I have eight grandchildren, but I have two that were born prematurely and are particularly vulnerable, and I went to see them. And while I will socially distance from my granddaughters, I also know that they're very vulnerable to the flu. I want Tennesseans to get a flu shot. I want Tennesseans to make common sense decisions. I want people to be able to see their families, but do so in a safe way. I encourage every Tennessean to take advantage of Fight Flu Day on November 19th and I appreciate the willingness of Tennesseans to step up and do what they have to do through these very challenging days ahead.
Governor Bill Lee:
We have much to be thankful for. We have much to be concerned about. We have much work to do from a state level and from an individual Tennessean level. And we're grateful for Tennesseans for engaging with us to keep our lives and livelihoods protected in this state. And thank you as well for the information that you receive here, the questions you ask, what you get out to the people of Tennessee, so that they can know how it is that can navigate our way and our state through this very difficult pandemic, into the days ahead. Thank you very much.