COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of Tennessee on March 5, 2020. As of August 1, 2020, there are 108,184 confirmed cases, 1,067 deaths, 67,651 recoveries, and 1,541,615 reported tests.
Timeline
March
On March 5, the first case of COVID-19 is reported in Tennessee, in Williamson County. The patient is a 44-year-old adult man and resident of Williamson County who recently flew on a nonstop flight to Boston through Nashville's airport.On March 12, Governor Bill Lee issues an executive order declaring a state of emergency until May 11.
On March 16, Nashville mayor John Cooper forces bars to close in Nashville and Davidson County and imposes limitations on restaurants. Governor Lee asks schools to close by March 20.
On March 19, Fiona Whelan Prine, wife and manager of country folk singer-songwriter John Prine announces that she has the coronavirus. On March 26, John is admitted to the hospital after suffering sudden onset of COVID-19 symptoms. On April 7, John dies, while Fiona Whelan Prine announces she has recovered.
On March 20, the first death is reported in Nashville.
On March 22, the University of Tennessee reports its first confirmed case of COVID-19. The case involves a staff member and is confirmed by the Knox County Health Department.
On March 23, Memphis mayor Jim Strickland and Shelby County mayor Lee Harris issue "stay at home" executive orders that take effect for Memphis and Shelby County the following day.
On March 26, Middle Tennessee State University confirms an on-campus student tested positive for COVID-19 and is being supported by MTSU Student Health Services.
On March 29, country music artist Joe Diffie dies in Nashville due to complications from the coronavirus, according to his publicist.
April
On April 2, Governor Lee issues a "stay at home" executive order for the entire state, effective through April 14. On April 13, he extends the order through April 30. Two days later, Governor Lee recommends that all Tennessee schools close for the rest of the 2019–2020 school year.On April 20, 150 inmates test positive for COVID-19 at the Bledsoe County Correctional Complex in Pikeville, a number that quickly rises as more test positive over the next days.
Lee confirmed the "stay at home" executive order will expire on April 30, and the majority of businesses will be able to reopen the following day, May 1.
May
On May 1, around 1,000 inmates and staff tested positive for COVID-19 at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville, leading to a significant jump in the state numbers for that day.On May 7, a study conducted by Harvard's Global Health Institute in conjunction with NPR listed Tennessee as one of nine U.S. states that was doing enough testing to successfully control its coronavirus outbreak.
On May 10, Hancock County became the last county in the state without any confirmed cases of COVID-19 after Pickett County reported one case.
On May 15, the state of Tennessee announced Phase 2 of reopening, set to start May 22. This applies to 89 of Tennessee's 95 counties. Knox County mayor Glenn Jacobs announced that Knoxville would follow the state's guidelines. Dollywood announced it planned to reopen "soon".
On May 19, every county in Tennessee was confirmed to have had COVID-19 after Hancock County reported a case.
On May 26, it was reported that all employees of a single farm in Rhea County had tested positive.
July
On July 3, Governor Bill Lee signed an executive order giving authority to Tennessee's 89 non-metro counties with no locally operated health departments to enforce mask-wearing mandates in their counties.On July 10, State Representative Kent Calfee, a Republican from Kingston became the first member of the Tennessee General Assembly to test positive for COVID-19.
Government response
On March 5, Governor Bill Lee reported the state's first case: a man in his 40s in Williamson County who had recently traveled outside the state.On March 12, Governor Lee issued Executive Order No. 14 to declare a State of Emergency until it expires on May 11. The order allows pharmacists to dispense an additional 30-day prescription provided it is to prevent the spread of the virus, allows for alternate COVID-19 testing sites provided that the Tennessee Medical Laboratory Board is notified, restricts an excessive price increase of items and services until March 27, suspends maximum size limitations for vehicles participating in preventing the spread of the virus, and gives the Tennessee Commissioner of Human Services the ability to waive child care requirements as needed.
in Smyrna.
On March 13, the Tennessee Supreme Court under Chief Justice Jeff Bivins issued a State of Emergency order applying to the Tennessee judicial branch. The order suspended in-person proceedings until March 31, and extended statutes of limitations and orders of protection that would expire on April 5 or before to April 6. Additionally, Governor Lee banned traveling be state employees for non-essential government business, while also banning visitors and tours in Nashville. The Tennessee General Assembly also banned the public from the legislative Cordell Hull Office complex with only members, staff, and media allowed.
On March 16, Nashville mayor John Cooper announced that bars will close across the county and imposed limitations on restaurants. On the same day, Lee asked schools to close by March 20; on April 15, he recommended they stay closed through the end of the school year.
On March 23, Memphis mayor Jim Strickland and Shelby County mayor Lee Harris issued executive orders to take effect 6:00 pm, March 24, requiring residents to remain at home unless they serve essential services. The list of essential services is broad.
The state has gradually collected more information in its coronavirus reporting. Initially, Tennessee was unable to reveal the counties where infected victims lived. On March 10, the state government began reporting coronavirus cases by county, but it still did not have information regarding age and gender. Currently, age, gender, race, and county information is published daily. On March 31, the state government was able to reveal the number of negative cases in each county. Lee also signed an executive order allowing local governments to meet remotely after the legislature failed to do so.
On March 25, during Governor Lee's daily COVID-19 briefing, Military Commissioner Major General Jeff Holmes announced that 250 members of the Tennessee National Guard had been mobilized to assist in the state's response and were receiving training in Smyrna. Small teams of Guardsmen were dispersed across 35 counties to support coronavirus testing. Members of the Tennessee State Guard were activated to assist the National Guard's mission.
On April 2, Governor Lee announced that he would sign Executive Order No. 23, which would call for all residents to stay home through April 14, unless they are carrying out essential activities. On April 13, Lee extended the order to the end of the month, to align with President Trump's plans for businesses to reopen in early May.
The Tennessee Major Metros Economic Restart Task Force was established on April 16, composed of mayors representing Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga, as well as business and health leaders. The task force will plan resumption of business suspended due to COVID-19.
Governor Lee announced on April 20 that the 'Safer at Home' order would expire on April 30, and the majority of businesses would be able to reopen the following day, May 1.
On April 24, Governor Lee announces his reopening plan, applying to 89 of Tennessee's 95 counties. It does not apply to Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga — Tennessee's largest cities. Instead, Lee left reopening decisions to local leaders in those places. The guidelines allow restaurants and retail stores to reopen on April 27 and 29, respectively. The state recommends that businesses should keep occupancy at 50% capacity and require employees to use cloth masks and gloves.
On April 30, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announce that the city of Memphis and its surrounding county are ready to "slowly start opening our economy back up and get Memphians working again" on May 4. After a meeting of a "diverse group with ideological and political differences", it was determined that Memphis would not be able to reopen with most of the rest of the state. Memphis entered Phase 1 of reopening on May 4.
On May 7, Nashville mayor John Cooper announces that Nashville has a "passing grade" and will begin Phase 1 of reopening on May 11. This brings Nashville into closer alignment with the rest of the state, where some businesses reopened with partial capacity on May 1.
On May 15, the Governor's Economic Recovery Group announced Phase 2 of reopening. In this phase, starting May 22, 89 of Tennessee's 95 counties will allow restaurants and retail to operate at full capacity with social distancing and not allowing groups of more than 10 people. Also "large non-contact attractions" such as theaters, amusement parks, water parks, racetracks, museums, and auditoriums will be allowed to reopen with social distancing. Knox County mayor Glenn Jacobs announced that Knoxville would follow the state's guidelines. Dollywood announced it planned to reopen "soon".
By July 16, after the governor's July 3 executive order giving all Tennessee counties the power to mandate masks in public, Davidson, Dickson, Greene, Hamblen, Hamilton, Hawkins, Knox, Madison, Montgomery, Robertson, Sevier, Shelby, Sullivan, Sumner, Washington, and Williamson Counties required masks. Meanwhile, Anderson, Bedford, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Cheatham, Coffee, Franklin, Grundy, Hickman, Marion, Marshall, Maury, McMinn, Meigs, Polk, Putnam, Rhea, Rutherford, Sesquatchie, and Wilson Counties announced they would not require masks. Several counties continue to recommend, but not require masks and framed the mask issue as an issue of personal responsibility and "love and respect". Six of Tennessee's counties have local health departments and already had the authority to issue mask mandates.
On July 22, 2020, the Oak Ridge City Council, passed a measure to send Governor Lee a resolution to give municipalities the ability to enforce mask mandates, regardless if the county that the municipality is in does not enforce a mandate itself.
On July 29, with schools reopening across the state, the state health department decided not to collect data on COVID-19 cases in schools, instead leaving the decision of whether to collect and share the data to the individual school districts.