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Tennessee Reopens!
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has announced a phased reopening of businesses in the state beginning next week with the “safer at home” order officially expiring on May 1. In other good news, yesterday Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs tweeted that the county (population 470,000) had only 28 active cases with 161 recoveries. Our concrete construction contractor company has been deemed “essential” so we have continued working through all this, but I know it will be a relief to a lot of people who have not been.
The main takeaways from this post are:
- Yes, I am kind of a big deal since I am officially essential.
- The Knox County mayor is Glenn Jacobs, but you may also know him as WWE wrestler Kane! (See Jacobs below pictured with Governor Lee.)
- Most important, a lot of the country may be ready to put this stuff behind us. Hallelujah.
I am going to frame a copy of my official papers that prove this.
Well, the bills are going to be coming for quite some time…heck, the spending has only just begun!!!
Georgia is starting to reopen too.
Dennis Prager nails it though: If the bulk of the deaths were in Montana, would NTC shut down?
Yeah i am going to put it on my tombstone. lmao
And the other part of the country are turning into vicious scolds proclaiming that we’re all gonna die if people are allowed to have jobs again. And obviously you’re an evil uncaring MAGA-head if you want to reopen the country or question the holy CDC.
I think this is a great example of why federalism is best when dealing with things like this (and with most things). What is appropriate and sensible for NYC probably isn’t the right response for Montana, or Mississippi. Letting the states and municipalities access their own responses has been demonstrated to be idea….at the chagrin of all those who scream about a “nationalized response”. Funny how all those people who want everyone who is locked down like hot spot areas LIVE IN THE LOCKED DOWN AREAS. Almost like misery loves company.
Hurray for Federalism!
The Texas governor likewise gave local authorities lots of discretion in how much they locked down their communities. As you would expect, big blue cities dominated by Democrats have locked down much harder than small cities and rural counties. Around here, California and East Coast transplants have been the people screaming for more restrictions. The state restrictions begin to lift this week. Schools will stay closed for the rest of the school year, which is probably the right call given how many parents would not let their children go back to school.
My social media feed shows a clear correlation between lefties and those wanting to keep the country locked down. What really bugs me is how much more people working hourly jobs are hit by this, and how uncaring the left is about their problems.
Pretty safe bet that any COVID deaths in areas that are re-opening are going to be treated roughly on the same level of seriousness as the JFK assassination by the bulk of the media in the upcoming weeks, and where even though everyone knows there’s going to be at least a little uptick in coronavirus cases due to the re-openings, it will be treated as something both shocking and outrageous that can’t be allowed to stand, and where the politicians involved and the White House now have blood on their hands.
Of course, the friend of a co-worker who just committed suicide this weekend . . . I’m sure the shut-down and job loss had no effect on his mental state.
South Carolina is reopening too. Anyone want to bet the last states to reopen are Democrat run?
I’d say of the states on hard shutdowns, only Maryland and possibly Massachusetts will be among the last to reopen that have Republican governors (though if I was Larry Hogan and Charlie Baker, I’d still be looking at trying to target reopen the less-populated western parts of my states, and Hogan also need to look at relaxing rules on the low-population Maryland Eastern Shore).
I went shopping today for the first time since the lockdowns started. I found out I didn’t have any construction adhesive on hand, after all. An unopened tube that could have been 7-8 years old was dried up. And I wasn’t going to wait until Amazon could send me some, not with its Covid-19 delivery times. So, down to the local hardware store.
I’ve been frequenting ACE for weeks. It’s amazing how non-shut-down we are for being shut down. I live in WA, but most places east of the Cascades are like being in a different state than Seattle.
It’s hard to tell if the delineation is based more on urban areas or the left/right political spectrum. It could be a “chicken and egg” scenario. I do think it may be more a case of the left leaning being both more risk averse and obviously more inclined for a governmental solution than it is them being “uncaring”. They seem to just feel like the government knows best and as the governments children we should obey. The fact that Trump is the “government” presently I’m sure is giving them lots of confusion. hahahah
I bet the Alamo City is really going to be hit economically. Much of the economy is based on conventions and tourism. Austin has a high-tech economy that can continue working, but UT is a huge economic driver and there is great uncertainty there. Will there be a football season?
This has me thinking that every time a lefty talks about how they’re pro-worker, they need to be reminded that they were more than happy to cause millions of people to lose their jobs as long as they could feel safe.
The majority of deaths in NYC has not gotten NYC to shutdown.
Isn’t it funny how it’s not the millions of people who were forced out of work and told they must lose their life savings that are saying everyone must remain locked in their homes. It seems to be the people who are still able to work from home and earn a paycheck that are saying those people must sacrifice. Remember if forcing you to lose your home and bankrupt your family saves ONE life it will be worth it.
Headline: Following concrete advise, Kane puts germophobe in full nelson!
I sense Jonah Goldberg flipping open his laptop to write an angry column about Dennis Prager.
That’s a sucker’s bet Stad.
Hey ConcreteVol – this is a little off-topic; but, what is the deal with co-mayor? Was there a tie, or is that just the way it is in Knoxville?
Now that is a very large man.
Thumbs up from me since I am moving back to Tennessee next week (you may have noticed my new avatar).
Not all of Tennessee is opening up. The mayor of Chattanooga says that he won’t be lifting any restrictions yet. Chattanooga is in the southeast corner where Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama meet.
— Mayor Berke: Chattanooga businesses to remain closed for now, no reopening date set
— Mayor Berke: Chattanooga will not commit to ‘arbitrary’ date to lift COVID-19 restrictions
I’m sure you’re right. The question is: What will the places opening back up do when faced with calls to relock everything when that uptick occurs? Will they stand firm and stay open, or will they buckle and close again?
You mean the Undertaker’s brother? That’s kind of cool.
Let me ask though since I’m in the this all seems to early to me camp, with respect to opening back up. What is Tennessee’s capability to test and contact trace in order to get ahead of any resurgence of the virus? Because from my perspective opening up and encouraging more contact without a means to catch new pockets of spread and isolate them be fore they explode seems like just setting everyone up for reentering another stay at home period. Especially given that the virus has a large number of asymptomatic carriers and it takes about two weeks for many people to show symptoms so it is very likely to build up undetected until hospitalizations start spiking. By that point though it is too late and you need to spend at least another month in lockdown to bend the curve back again.
So step wise reopening with continued social distancing and masking guidelines are a good idea. But testing and plans for isolation of infected individuals is what is really key.
It isn’t about standing firm of buckling. If the up tick is another round of exponential spread locking down is the only way to flatten that curve. Unless you think it wont create so many cases that it will overwhelm local medical institutions. The key to avoiding a drastic resurgence of the virus is widespread testing and containment of positive individuals. The sooner you can isolate an infected individual the better you can keep viral spread down. Global lock down was needed because we had no means to test everyone and isolate only the infected.
Masking guidelines are a terrible idea and would hopefully be resisted by a majority of people. If you reopen, let people make their own assessments of personal risk.
Even so, I bet they have some hot spots to deal with. I trust Republican governors more than Democrat governors, but not by much . . .