October 28, 2020
Governor Bill Lee:
Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us today in our in-person briefing for the first time in a couple of weeks. Before we move into the business of the day, I want to take just a minute to stop and remember and acknowledge and say to the people of Meigs County, that our hearts go out to them. We faced a great tragedy in our State yesterday and our neighbors and hurting and Meigs County. As a result of the accident, the bus crash in Decatur.
Governor Bill Lee:
Marie are praying for those families, and we asked Tennesseans to do that. We also are grateful for those on the ground who are helping in the effort, first responders from even other counties that responded there. Commissioner Schwinn is on the ground in Meigs County today to offer support from the State and the Department of Education. But most importantly, we stop to remember and to acknowledge and to offer our prayer and support to our neighbors. A tragic situation on the ground.
Governor Bill Lee:
Also, there's a critical need in the community for blood donations and that area. There is an organization there called Blood Assurance that has centers in Chattanooga, in Cleveland, in Hixson, in the Gunbarrel area for donations of blood, and we encourage those in that region to go to the website for Blood Assurance to find out where it is that they can help and that they can make donations of blood for that hurting community.
Governor Bill Lee:
Maria and I are done with our exposure, have completed our 14 day exposure. We're very fortunate that we did not fall ill as a result of our exposure. We do believe that that quarantine period was important, but we're also very grateful to our staff and our detail who wore masks when they were with us. And that is the reason that we did not contract the virus. We wore masks, they wore masks. It's a reminder to all Tennesseans that masks are a very important part of comprehensive strategy that we have to fight COVID in our State.
Governor Bill Lee:
I've invited a partner of ours, Dr. Wendy Long with the Tennessee Hospital Association. She will be making remarks in a few minutes. The THA's been an incredible partner with us throughout this pandemic, and we want to make sure that she has an opportunity to express what's happening with our providers across the State to address the hospital capacity as we address the growing case rates in our state.
Governor Bill Lee:
It's important to keep in mind that we are in fact in a period of time where our case counts are growing across Tennessee. In fact, as we all know, that's happening in the vast majority of States across the country. We experienced a similar surge to this in the summer. We have gone beyond the numbers of that particular surge, but we were reminded in July when we had a significant case count, just like we're reminded today, that it is important that we each recognize what's happening around us and take the personal responsibility and make the decisions that are important for all Tennesseans to make to help protect ourselves and our neighbors in the midst of a growing pandemic currently in our state.
Governor Bill Lee:
Due to the surge in cases, many of our County mayors, a number of them just in the last several days have implemented mask requirements in their communities. Many are considering it. We've had a lot of conversations with those mayors. As of now, about 62% of our population is currently under a mask requirement, and many of those decisions have been made in the last few days and are continuing to be made in the coming days. So we believe that targeted strategy is a good one and it's working. I want to commend the mayors who are both considering, and those who have made a decision to go that direction, understanding that masks are very important part and the adherence of that and the strategy for that adherence is very important to all of us. As we near the end of the month, I'll be extending the state of emergency that will allow those mayors to continue that strategy, but also it allows much needed federal funding to continue to come into our state. It allows for remote virtual meetings for local elected officials and a number of other things that go along with that extension.
Governor Bill Lee:
We'll be talking more about that at the end of the week, as that approaches. Dr. Long, if you would please come up, let's begin to talk a little bit about our hospital capacity, and we'll move more into the health side of our report.
Dr. Long:
Thank you, Governor. We, Tennessee Hospitals, are very appreciative of the level of engagement that we've had with you over the course of the pandemic. As the governor mentioned, as cases are increasing so our hospitalizations. In fact, hospitalizations are increasing in Tennessee at an alarming rate right now, with new records being set every day for the number of currently hospitalized patients.
Dr. Long:
We've learned a lot over the past eight months about this new disease, how people become infected, how to best prevent infection and spread, what type of damage the virus is capable of, which patients are more or less likely to become seriously ill and how to best treat those with the most severe symptoms. I know that it can be tempting to look at the frailty of those who are succumbing to this illness and assume that as a member of the public, you won't be impacted in a significant way by a COVID infection, but the sorts of conditions that increase the odds of becoming seriously ill with COVID are very common among Tennesseans.
Dr. Long:
It's important to remember that despite all the improvements in treatment that we have come to work with, the mortality rate for those who are hospitalized is still significantly higher for those cases that require hospitalization than for those that don't result in a hospitalization. Even for those who do recover, a hospital stay for COVID is not an easy one. Some of our urban hospitals report an average length of stay for COVID patients more than twice the length of stay for a non-COVID patient. It's even worse in rural areas, where a typical length of stay outside of an ICU can be 11 or 12 days and more than 20 days in an ICU.
Dr. Long:
Make no mistake about it, the dramatic improvements in our understanding of the disease and how to treat it, despite that, the spike in the new cases that we're seeing, combined with the increase in the average age of patients who are newly diagnosed, is creating an environment where we have an ever-growing number of families that are facing the reality of a seriously ill loved one connected to one or more forms of life support, whom they can't be with in the hospital and who may or may not survive this illness.
Dr. Long:
While COVID-19 is a complex problem, we've seen great success with very simple personal actions like wearing a mask, and that means we have the opportunity to turn this around. We know we can do it, because we've done it once before. Earlier this year, when cases and hospitalizations started to escalate dramatically in late June and the month of July, we buckled down and masked up. As a result, we saw a 56% reduction in new cases and a 38% reductions in hospitalizations over a six-week period.
Dr. Long:
We need to do that again. We need to do it now, and we need to sustain it. Your hospitals and healthcare providers are willing to do their part. They will put their health and even lives on the line to care for those who are diagnosed with COVID-19 and who become seriously ill, but we need the public to do your part in keeping those numbers at a level we can manage.
Dr. Long:
Hospitals across the state are taking steps to increase their capacity to care for this surgeon patients. There are limits to how much capacity can be created, especially as increasing numbers of hospital staff become ill from the virus and must miss work to isolate at home.
Dr. Long:
If the health care system becomes overwhelmed with COVID patients, it will jeopardize not only our ability to care for those patients, but our ability to respond to heart attacks and strokes and injuries, and the many other types of care that hospitals are relied upon to provide in communities on a daily basis. We've seen this happen in other states. We know we can do better in Tennessee.
Dr. Long:
I understand that in a normal year, people don't give much thought to the availability of healthcare services. Hospitals are open 24/7 to serve all comers regardless of their ability to pay, and there's rarely a concern about capacity, and certainly not in a way that the general public ever needs to worry about. This year is a different. It really requires all of us taking concrete steps to reduce the spread of COVID and getting flu shots to decrease the number of flu-related hospitalizations that will occur.
Dr. Long:
If we do this, the healthcare system will continue to be there when you need it, no matter the type of care that you're seeking. The time to act is now before seasonal flu becomes an issue. If the increase in hospitalizations that we many times experience during a typical flu season, we're layered on top of the current surge in hospitalizations for COVID patients that we're experiencing today, we would have statewide capacity issues.
Dr. Long:
Our message is very simple, wear a mask when you're out in public, practice social distancing, get your flu shot. Your hospital and healthcare providers want to be there for you when you need them. We need the public's help to make that happen. Thank you.
Governor Bill Lee:
Thank you very much. I thank the hospitals and the providers in our state who are working together closely with us to make sure that we do provide the care necessary for Tennesseans throughout this, the Tennessee Hospital Association has been a great partner, and we're grateful for their continued work with us.
Governor Bill Lee:
We've talked a lot about masks, and while masks are an important part of the strategy, so is testing. We have worked very hard in our state to provide barrier free testing for every Tennessean, symptomatic or not. We are, once again, increasing that testing capacity and availability to Tennesseans. Besides the free testing that's available in every county, in every health department and our state, we are implementing pop-up testing centers over the weekends in rural counties. We started that last week. We'll continue that process this week.
Governor Bill Lee:
We will have testing opportunities in Crockett, Fayette, Smith, Wilson, Grainger, and Johnson counties this week, in addition to the testing that occurs in every county. If you live in those counties, be looking for those testing opportunities, and please go out and get a test. It helps us to understand all the more where the virus is, how it's spreading and how it is that we can mitigate it.
Governor Bill Lee:
I want to talk a minute now about unemployment in our state. This pandemic has affected lives and livelihoods, and we want to make sure that Tennesseans understand that there are unemployment benefits from the federal government that will be ending at the end of the year. We want Tennesseans to know about that in advance to be able to plan for it, and most importantly, to be able to connect Tennesseans who are currently unemployed with the tens of thousands of job opportunities that exist in Tennessee. I've asked Commissioner McCord to address next steps for unemployment. If you would come up please and give your report.
Commissioner McCord:
Thank you, Governor. I think we're aware that there hasn't, at the federal level, after the CARES Act, been any movement on additional unemployment insurance benefits. We thought it was a very good idea to have an update on where we are with CARES Act unemployment benefits. One of the first benefits that we were introduced to, new benefits, was Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which was the additional $600 supplied by the CARES Act that ended near the end of July, so that has not been there since July.
Commissioner McCord:
There's two other primary programs. One is called pandemic unemployment assistance. That program covers individuals who would typically not be eligible under the state program, your 1099 workers are maybe somebody who was affected by COVID, but did not have the wage history to earn eligibility for the state program. that program lasts 39 weeks, maximum benefit amount of 39 weeks, but will also end on December 26 under current federal law. Whichever comes first, your 39 weeks or December 26 is when that benefit will end.
Commissioner McCord:
The second program, that is one of the primary programs, is a program called Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, and what that program does is it extends state benefits for 13 weeks. In the State of Tennessee, you have 26 weeks of unemployment insurance. This gives you another 13 weeks to match that 39 weeks from the other program. Once again, you have 13 weeks maximum benefit, but that also ends on December 26 under current federal law. You either reach your maximum are you reached December 26 and those benefits will be exhausted.
Commissioner McCord:
This is all subject to change, as you know, and we'll continue to give you updates as we go forward. For the time being and actually over time, the best strategy is a return to work. There are, as the governor mentioned, there are tens of thousands of jobs. We have employers across the state who are looking for people, looking to hire, and so our best strategy is to move people to those positions. We have a comprehensive strategy called Reemploy Tennessee. We're happy to talk to you more about that we are actively focused on doing just that. With that, Governor, I'll leave it.
Governor Bill Lee:
Dr. Piercey, let's move into our health report. If you would, please.
Dr. Piercey:
Thank you, Governor. Last week, we rolled out our draft vaccine distribution plan. I want to take this opportunity to thank our multidisciplinary stakeholder group. We've really convened a pretty robust group of stakeholders from lots of different industries, providers, distributors, schools, infectious disease experts, lots of folks at the table helping us with this draft plan.
Dr. Piercey:
I want to emphasize the word draft. This is a draft that will change. I can guarantee that, because there are still a lot of unknowns. You may have heard me say before, we're not exactly sure yet of the when or the what or the where or the who, what we're focused on is the how, and that's something that we've historically done very well in Tennessee. That's logistics planning of the distribution, because we know that the fastest and most reliable way to herd immunity is through a safe and effective vaccine. We're working really hard to be prepared to deliver this for Tennesseans when it's available, and I'll be sure to give you updates as we have them.
Dr. Piercey:
Also, want to give you a brief update on the BinaxNOW rapid point of care distribution. Of those tests, we have already received several 100 thousand of those and have begun deployment in long-term care facilities, historically Black colleges and universities, as well as a special populations, like the corrections population and mental health population.
Dr. Piercey:
We're also building out significant infrastructure to distribute those to schools, businesses, and other entities. What we've realized is this is an incredible resource, and it's going to take a good bit of logistical planning here as well. Because it's time limited, we want to make sure we get this right. We're starting to get those out in bigger quantities, and we'll keep you updated on those plans as they come out as well.
Dr. Piercey:
Finally, just to drive home a point that the governor made, cases are up, positivity rates up and hospitalizations are at an all-time high. I want you to hear this clearly. I don't want you to fall into the narrative of thinking, oh, that's just because we're testing more. Actually, our testing is pretty stable. We've always been a strong testing state, and we continue to remain that way. We do believe this is actually an increase in transmission, and so just like you've heard me and others say many times, please take personal responsibility to do those things that you know to do to stem the spread of the virus.
Dr. Piercey:
We are proud that we're resurrecting the weekend pop-up testing. We've got six locations this weekend, two in each grand division. I encourage you to check out COVID19.tn.gov for more information on those locations. Thanks.
Governor Bill Lee:
Thank you all for that, and all of these stakeholders and commissioners and partners are for questions. If you have them of them or of me, let's open it up and go ahead with questioning.
Governor Bill Lee:
Chris.
Chris:
So much to ask, you've been gone so long. First of all, I'd like to talk to Dr. Long, if she can come back up and in a word or two, we were having a little hard time hearing you. Tell people exactly how you view the hospitalization situation in Tennessee. It's at an all time high, and again, what should we do? How should Tennesseans look at that?
Dr. Long:
Hospitalizations are at an all time high and-
Chris:
A little louder, if you don't mind. I'm sorry.
Dr. Long:
Sorry. Hospitalizations are at an all time high. We are setting new records every day, and what we need Tennesseans to do is to stop the spread, to mask up, to socially distance, to participate in frequent hand-washing and to get a flu shot. Hospitals are doing all that they can do to increase capacity, but their ability to do that is not limitless. That is especially true as we see more and more healthcare providers who are becoming ill from the virus and having to quarantine at home.
Chris:
Would you hope there'd be some federal help that might come your way?
Dr. Long:
Well, I think there has been a fair amount of federal help that has come our way...
Chris:
More?
Dr. Long:
... But the rate limiting factor here is staffing, and we are competing with many other states for those staff that might be able to be brought into a hospital that was in a crisis. I really think it's incumbent upon us as Tennesseans to get control of this and not to look outside for help.
Chris:
I was struck by what Dr. Piercey said about testing. I keep hearing, "The more you test, the more cases you're going to get." It seems like what you just said is direct opposite of what we've been hearing from some parts of Washington. Can you talk about this, that how the case count you believe is actually going up and it's not because we're testing more.
Dr. Piercey:
Yeah. And that's the exact reason I pointed that out because nationally, states haven't had as strong of a testing infrastructure as we have. And so they have seen massive increases in testing volume. Ours has been pretty stable because ours has been pretty robust for several months now. And that's something that we're proud of. Our testing numbers have been stable for the last several weeks. I know that they fluctuate widely by the day. But when you look at the weekly totals, we're still running in the low to mid 20,000 per day test. And so we truly believe that this is an increase in transmission, particularly in our rural areas.
Chris:
And Governor, I have one question for you if I may. And obviously the word from Washington is there is no stimulus bill right now, but what do you say to those 77,000 Tennesseeans who are still unemployed? And I know that you'd like to get money to small businesses to create jobs, but we're talking about that takes a little bit of time. These are the people who want to, who are worried about their rent checks, about their car payments, about buying food and they need something immediately. Is there something that Tennessee can do there?
Governor Bill Lee:
Well, a lot of people have suffered through this pandemic and unemployment is one of the most severe ways that people suffer through this besides the health piece of this. So one of the reasons that we have invested money in businesses through the coronavirus funding is to keep those businesses open-
Chris:
But there's money, if I think, excuse me for interrupting but isn't there in that small business relief fund more than a hundred million dollars as of a month ago?
Governor Bill Lee:
Remaining?
Chris:
That wasn't being... What the businesses were... That money was available.
Governor Bill Lee:
That's right. And so we are shifting our focus there. We've changed, we are adding to that program to try to reach more businesses, to try to reach out to those who weren't contacted. So a whole large number of companies were not made aware of that. As much as our efforts, communicating with them, emails to every one of those companies press conferences about that. Some of them did not get that news. So we continue to increase our efforts to reach them, to make sure that they know it. We don't want our businesses to go out of business when they do those jobs.
Chris:
But could that money go to the unemployed.
Governor Bill Lee:
I'm sorry?
Chris:
Could that money go to those folks who are unemployed-
Governor Bill Lee:
Well-
Chris:
... potentially?
Governor Bill Lee:
The unemployment law is in statute both federally and statewide. As long as those laws exist, that's how unemployment benefits are determined. The best thing that we can do is to make sure that there are plenty of jobs in our state, so that those who are unemployed have an opportunity to find a job. There is much work being done there. And there are, in fact, I'm not sure Dr. McCord, you might confirm this, but I believe as of right now, we know of about 250,000 open jobs in our state that are available to Tennesseeans. We just need to connect those Tennessee ans to those job opportunities to make sure that our unemployment rate continues to drop.
Governor Bill Lee:
We were at 15% unemployment. We're now at 6.2% unemployment. That number continues to decline. What we hope is that by the end of December, when those... We've had a dramatic decrease in unemployment, by the end of December, that number will continue to decline and there will be a significantly less number of Tennesseans that are unemployed. And we can connect those that are unemployed with the employment opportunities.
Speaker 1:
Governor Lee, do you think you lifted the business restrictions and other restrictions in rural counties too soon? Is that why we're seeing these high rates of transmission?
Governor Bill Lee:
I think what's important for us to remember is that lives and livelihoods matter. So there's a balance to be struck with both of those, and it's not choosing one or the other, it's both and. It's being able to keep businesses open and keep people employed and keep their livelihoods upheld. At the same time, protecting the lives of those in those communities. So we believe, and the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the federal health officials believe that this increased transmission is primarily happening in small gatherings in people's homes and in a different environment than in the business community.
Governor Bill Lee:
In fact, in speaking with Dr. Birx about this, Dr. Birx communicated that it's their understanding as they survey the nation, that businesses have done a really pretty good job and people have done a pretty good job of understanding masking up when they go into a business environment or when they go into a retail center or when they go into an environment where there are a lot of folks gathered. Masking up in public places is not, the federal officials don't believe that's actually where the real transmission is occurring significantly now. It's happening in small gatherings in homes, in communities where people are kind of forgetting that close contact, even among small groups of people is actually a very dangerous way to live.
Speaker 1:
You spoke about the importance of masking up that you had around your own staff.
Governor Bill Lee:
I'm sorry. Can you repeat that?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you spoke about the importance of masking up that you had around your own staff to not get the virus yourself. That other mayors we've seen them put mask mandates back in place, and that you have seen that other mayors might also. Would you encourage every single mayor in the state to put in a mask mandate right now?
Governor Bill Lee:
I think that every mayor certainly ought to consider, look at the case counts in their state, look at the growth of hospitalizations that are coming from their individual community. They certainly ought to be considering it.
Speaker 1:
Thank you.
Speaker 2:
[inaudible] Governor, you had been exposed to COVID from a staff member and you went into a self-quarantine for 14 days. And I think that was in part due to set an example or?
Governor Bill Lee:
Well, I mean, that's the appropriate quarantine time for anyone that has had a real exposure to COVID. A person that has been exposed and that may contract the virus, 90% of those people will do so within 14 days. Statistically that's the case. So in order to be certain that you don't give the virus to someone else, then it's important that you stay quarantined for 14 days.
Speaker 2:
Well, let me follow up with that. Vice President Mike Pence had been exposed at five staffers that had tested positive for COVID. What sort of example do you think he has set with that?
Governor Bill Lee:
I don't know the details of his exposure or what went into his decision to not quarantine. I just know that for me, my exposure, I knew what that exposure was, it was serious. I knew that I posed a risk to those around me if I didn't quarantine for 14 days. And so Maria and I chose to do that.
Speaker 2:
Okay. And then your strategy so far in dealing with... You've lifted the statewide mandate in terms of mask wearing and so forth and essentially outsourcing it to local mayors. At what point, given the continued escalation of this, at what point do you step in and say, "All right, I need to do impose another statewide mandate." Knowing that you've got a number of DA's that were starting to get really restive previously. And you've got some mayors in revolt and various groups and a lawsuit?
Governor Bill Lee:
Yeah. There are a lot of approaches to mask wearing. The most important thing that I can do as the governor of the state is to remind people that it's very important to wear a mask. It's why we have public service announcement campaigns going on across the state right now, reminding people how important this is. It's why we do it ourselves. It's why we continue to say that on a daily basis.
Governor Bill Lee:
There are a number of strategies to get adherence to mask wearing. And we believe that the strategy we're taking is the right one and the best one. We will continue to follow this and see, and we have seen, even in the last several days, many county mayors do this. Those percentage of Tennesseeans covered is increasing virtually every day. So we're encouraged that Tennesseeans are going to... This is going in the right direction, that they'll continue to do so.
Speaker 2:
Thank you.
Governor Bill Lee:
Thank you.
Speaker 3:
Thank you. Welcome back [crosstalk], Governor. Quick questions for you on the alternative care sites. And then one question for Dr. Long. What are the thresholds for activating the alternative care sites in Nashville and Memphis? Are we approaching that threshold? And who ultimately makes that call when it's time to turn those places on?
Governor Bill Lee:
Dr. Piercey, I'm going to let you weigh in on that. I'll say broadly, it has to do with when surge capacity, so hospitals have a traditional capacity, and then they have a surge capacity that they prepare for. And much of that has to do with staffing. It's one of the reasons that we've provided supplemental funding for our hospitals for staffing. You also might want to talk about some of the things we're considering for increasing staffing. So hospitals reach a capacity. Then they engage their surge capacity. And when that surge capacity is met, then there'll be a need for additional beds. You want to add to that?
Dr. Piercey:
Sure. Let me give you the brief answer up front, which is there is no set trigger that goes on or off. It is a multi-factorial nuanced decision as the governor is describing. The most important part to remember is whether it's beds there or beds in a facility, an empty bed without a staff member beside it means nothing. It doesn't do any good. And so part of the challenge of current hospital capacity is not physical space. It's having the staff to work there. And so the need for those beds and alternative care sites, we've got beds, we've got physical space, it's the staffing. So we've been supporting hospitals in various ways to expand their staffing. And one of those the Governor mentioned is a $51 million hospital staffing assistance grant program. And that is a program that allows for a lot of flexibility for staffing of hospitals.
Dr. Piercey:
They can use it for overtime for their staff. They can use it to retain a contract agency, to bring in temp staff. Or they can use it for recruiting incentives to bring in new staff on board, full time. The problem, and Dr. Long mentioned this, is everybody in the nation is competing for staffing right now. We saw this back a few months ago with lab staff and lab staff is still stretched, but right now it's nurses as well as respiratory therapist. And so particularly in those communities that are border communities, where they can have a lot of exodus to other states, those are really suffering.
Dr. Piercey:
And so we're trying to support our facilities by giving them additional funds, as well as looking at any provisions that can help folks work at the top of their license. That's a slang that we use in the industry that basically says, "If you have this skillset, we need you doing this and nothing below it because we can find somebody else more easily to do that." So those are the kinds of things we're looking at right now
Speaker 3:
And who will ultimately make the call when it's time to turn those places on if that happens?
Dr. Piercey:
Sure, that's a fair question. That will also be a very robust discussion with local hospital leaders, local municipal leaders, those of us at the department, as well as our emergency management partners. And so those different groups already exist where the alternative care sites are. They were very integral in the planning and the execution of those. And they will also be integral in the threshold of turning those on if and when that comes.
Speaker 3:
And Dr. Long, quick question for you, you mentioned, obviously we've talked a lot about the increase of hospitalizations and then also the increase of the average age of the patient and hospitalized patients. Do you know if there has been any dramatic change in the average length of stay for coronavirus patients? As those patients become older are they staying in hospitals longer?
Dr. Long:
We don't have a lot of hard data, but anecdotally what we've seen is an initial reduction in the length of stay, as we got better at treating patients, as we had new treatment modalities become available. But I think what we anticipate we will see with the increasing age is that an uptick in what had been a reduced length of stay.
Speaker 3:
Down and then up?
Dr. Long:
Yep. Sort of what we're seeing with numbers of cases as well.
Speaker 4:
Good afternoon, Governor. It's good to see you back in person. My question for you is about the comprehensive literacy grant program that the Department of Education received $20 million from the federal government to do. I understand that there's some concern from legislators that that program very closely mirrors what was proposed in your literacy bill earlier this year. And I understand that there's some concern that your administration is now moving forward with a program that's ultimately been tabled by the legislature. What's your response to that?
Governor Bill Lee:
Yeah, so I know that there is a lot of conversation between the legislature and our department is working with the members of the education committees to make certain that what we implement will be complimentary to what the legislature wants to bring forward. We're actually, and I'm personally, in talking with leadership in the legislature about the real challenges we have in education, particularly around literacy, the learning loss that we know has occurred and how it is that we can use these short term and currently awarded funding programs to compliment the broader literacy strategy that we have.
Governor Bill Lee:
As you know, last year we had a literacy bill that was working its way through the legislature that we pulled back when all funding was cut. So I think we'll just continue to work, our department with the legislature, to make sure that we have agreement on where we go with literacy. It's incredibly important that we focus on this. The legislature knows that. We know that. Educators across the state know that. And that'll be our focus.
Speaker 4:
And as you mentioned, the literacy bill that your administration proposed earlier this year was pulled back when the funding was cut. But now the Department of Education has received federal funding to move forward with a very parallel, very similar literacy program. Do you believe that that's the Department moving without legislative approval or do you think [crosstalk]?
Governor Bill Lee:
I think it will be complimentary. I think what we all know is that we need to get started right away on addressing the gaps that have been created by the learning loss and months away from the classroom. So I think the legislature and the Department are grateful for the federal funds that are going to allow us to continue to bridge the gap until we get legislation in place that will continue the work.
Speaker 4:
Okay. And then one last question for you. Yesterday, two commissioners stepped down or announced that they will be resigning in the future next month. I wondered if you have a timeline for appointing their replacements?
Governor Bill Lee:
For their replacements?
Speaker 4:
Yes sir.
Governor Bill Lee:
We'll start searching just as soon as we can. It's important that we fill both of those positions. And so we'll begin looking right away.
Speaker 4:
Great, thank you.
Speaker 5:
Hello, Governor.
Governor Bill Lee:
How are you this morning?
Speaker 5:
So my first question is election related. I was curious if you have, if you are preparing to send any National Guardsman to election sites, polling sides or assist in any way come next week?
Governor Bill Lee:
That I know of, there are no plans to have them on polling sites. I can check for certain with the Department Military, but I don't think there's any strategy for polling site locations-
Speaker 5:
Currently no requests from the Secretary-
Governor Bill Lee:
I'm sorry?
Speaker 5:
There's currently no requests from the Secretary of State's office to maybe ... Just in case?
Governor Bill Lee:
Not that I'm aware of.
Speaker 5:
So my second question, I kind of wanted to circle back to the discussion on personal responsibility. It's a message that you have really urge Tennesseans to follow through with when we're dealing with this pandemic. I guess at what point do you think personal responsibility, asking people to have a personal stake in this is failing. Do you think it's actually working, saying to Tennesseans, you have to take personal responsibility as we go through this?
Governor Bill Lee:
Yeah. I think at the end of the day, personal responsibility is the only way. I mean, people will either choose or not choose to socially distance or choose or not choose to wear a mask or to wash their hands. They will make that personal decision. What we can do is encourage and remind them that personal responsibility can protect them. That will never change. That will never not be a part of the message. It'll never not be a part of the solution. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it will require the engagement of Americans in order to mitigate the spread of this virus. It's very important and it will never stop.
Speaker 5:
Okay. I have one more final question. I think this one might be for Dr. Piercey. This is regarding the state's vaccine draft plan. As we've seen a handful of other states, California primarily is on my mind about how they want to use an independent task force to review the quality of the vaccine before distributing it, is that on the table for Tennessee?
Dr. Piercey:
Sure. It's on the table. We don't have a smaller group like that seated right now because unlike some other states, that multidisciplinary stakeholder group that I mentioned is reasonably sized. Some of my colleagues are working with groups that are 60 plus, which becomes unwieldy when you have to make decisions. Right now, ours is broad enough for a wide representation, but small enough where it's still tenable. So it's not off the table, but it's not something we've done yet.
Speaker 5:
There have been some pushback to this because some argue that an independent review would cost more doubt about the quality of the vaccine. If Tennessee chose to do that, how would you combat maybe some of those fears?
Dr. Piercey:
Yeah, that's a good question that I don't have a really clear answer to. It's something that we're watching precedent in other states. We are learning more every day and it's something that we discuss a lot. So when we get to that bridge, we'll cross it, but it's definitely on our radar.
Speaker 5:
Thank you.
Dr. Piercey:
Thank you.
Speaker 6:
Hi governor. In the past, you might've told people to minimize the amount that they're moving around in order to help flatten the curve. Now, if we're having more people in familial or friend to friend interactions infect one another, be the reason for transmission, is there another option there? I mean, or do you still look to, if this continues to head in the wrong direction, do we have to say again, "We need to stop moving around as much"?
Governor Bill Lee:
Yeah. I think we're eight months into a pandemic or so. Americans, Tennesseans, we know what creates spread. We know what mitigates the spread. We can put in place an environment to facilitate. But at the end of the day, people will make their own decision as to what they do day to day with their lives. We believe that Tennesseans understand ... We've seen it happen before, it happened in July, where, as Dr. Long said, people masked up. They stayed apart. And we saw case counts reduce significantly from the peaks in July. We need Tennesseans to do that again. We believe they will do that again. It's important that we remind them that we have messaging that as we see cases move through counties, that individually those counties see what's happening and respond accordingly, but that's what it will take. And that's what we'll continue to ask Tennesseans to do and we believe that will.
Speaker 6:
And some months ago there was another school bus crash in Tennessee and a debate about whether to put seat belts in there. I think it failed pretty narrowly. Is it time to revisit that? I mean, do you support seatbelts in school buses? Maybe that averts a tragedy like happened.
Governor Bill Lee:
Yeah, it's certainly tragic what happened there. And I think it's a little early to try to figure out. We're still assessing exactly what happened there. The families there that have been so profoundly tragically affected, we need to give that some time, but I'm certain that that will likely be brought forth in the legislature again and study why and who, other places that do that. What's the data around it? What are the statistics? Why the reasons for and not for that from a safety perspective, but I'm sure that we'll all make that analysis going forward. [inaudible]
Marta:
Hi governor. I have several questions about schools.
Governor Bill Lee:
Okay.
Marta:
You've made your position very clear about the importance of keeping school buildings open. And I think educators are doing yeoman's work to accomplish that.
Governor Bill Lee:
Yes, they are.
Marta:
Now, Tennessee has seen its highest case count to date among school aged children and schools are opening, closing, opening, closing like an accordion. And we're heading into flu season. So my question is should these numbers continue to worsen? Will you keep on the table the option of calling for another statewide shutdown of school buildings over the winter, especially given that our districts have improved remote learning programs significantly since our shutdown last March?
Governor Bill Lee:
I think there are a couple of things about that question. One is that we know that children learn better in an in-person classroom setting. And not only do they learn better, but they have access to a number of resources, nutrition, mental health services, safety services. There are a number of reasons why in-person schooling is the best route to pursue. And that's why we've done so with a strong focus on safety for teachers and students. We have had an increase in cases of students, but the number of students that have been infected are in the hundreds and we have close to 700,000 students in person in classrooms right now. So the percentage of students that have been infected are incredibly low and remain so. And schools have been open for 12 weeks now, I think, some of the students.
Governor Bill Lee:
So we continue to be very encouraged by the low number of cases relative to the number of students that are in a classroom. And we do have schools that open and close. We went three weeks without a school closure. We have 99.5% of our schools that have been in person remain open at any one time. So the numbers are actually very encouraging with regard to the ability to keep classrooms and school buildings open and to keep kids learning and to keep giving them access to much needed resources. Certainly, if there's a significant change in that, we will look at adjustments that need to be made, but so far the numbers have been good.
Speaker 6:
So following up to that, when schools have had to close, so often it has to do with school staffing and with a lot of teachers and staff having to quarantine or isolate. Since schools are a part of our critical infrastructure, should the state provide some kind of emergency funding to help staff schools to help keep class sizes manageable so that students can stay socially distanced? And should the state also consider providing hazard pay for classroom teachers who are taking risks to be in the classroom and to hire more substitute teachers?
Governor Bill Lee:
Yeah. So let me just first say you mentioned that teachers are doing yeoman's work, they are. Teachers do yeoman's work in a regular year. And this year in particular, they are working incredibly hard and I'm very grateful for the work of our teachers across the state. Again, the number of cases in our state staff, education staff, as well as our students, has been encouraging. It has allowed us to keep the number of school buildings closed to less than a percent of our school buildings.
Governor Bill Lee:
One of the things that we do believe though is one of the most important things we can do is protect our teachers. Dr. Piercey referenced the BinaxNOW tests that we have access to, hundreds of thousands of them. We are exploring the logistics and the possibility of using those tests to give a regular and repeated opportunity for teachers to be tested so that we can learn earlier of an infection and limit the spread among our teachers. So even though we have a relatively low number of infections among our staff and teachers across our state, we'd like that to be even lower so we don't face the situation that you have talked about. So we're going to work to move to that. And certainly, again, as with students, numbers, if those significantly change, we'll look to change that direction, but we are encouraged and hopeful that doesn't happen.
Marta:
Emergency funding though, to help schools with their staffing issue. Is that something that's being explored and considered?
Governor Bill Lee:
The particular funding and pay for individual schools occurs, those decisions occur at a district level, as you know. So we're looking to districts to make decisions about critical infrastructure work, requirements for teachers. And some have done so, but we leave that up to individual districts.
Marta:
But the state could come forth with some type of emergency funding to help them with this.
Governor Bill Lee:
I'm sure that'll probably be discussed at some point, but right now that's not being discussed.
Marta:
Okay. May I follow up with Dr. Piercey on the antigen tests? Initially, when those were announced that they were coming to Tennessee, the governor said that school distribution would be a priority. And it sounds like it's still on the table. However, what I've heard from school district leaders is they don't want it. They don't want the responsibility. They don't have the nursing capacity. They don't have the capacity period to do something like turning their school buildings into testing sites. So given that, is that still a possibility?
Dr. Piercey:
Marta, you elucidate exactly the issue that we're working through right now. Very sensitive to the fact that, as you and the governor have both pointed out, school administrators, teachers, staff have an extremely high number of tasks and responsibilities now, even above and beyond what they normally do. We don't expect them to be clinics. They're not prepared to be clinics. And we understand that. So looking at engaging third-party community partners to do that, whether that is providers, health departments, pharmacies, where the healthcare infrastructure already exists, we need to leverage that. Because I'm in complete agreement. We don't need to put another burden on schools right now, but they do need the benefit of that. It's still very much in the works, but you have described the issue that has caused us to slow down just a little bit to try to find a different infrastructure for that.
Governor Bill Lee:
Thank you all for the opportunity to share what we believe is really important information to Tennesseans. We want to encourage Tennesseans and remind them that early voting ends tomorrow. Get out and exercise your right to vote. We appreciate each of you and the role that you play in disseminating information. And we will be back again next week. Thank you.
Speaker 7:
[inaudible].
Governor Bill Lee:
I have not. I've been in quarantine.
Governor Bill Lee:
I did not. No.
Speaker 7:
Any symptoms?
Governor Bill Lee:
No symptoms. No. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you.
Speaker 7:
Thanks, Governor.
Governor Bill Lee:
Thank you.