COVID-19
Commentary: I invited Gov. Lee to visit my hospital. He didn’t come.
Hospitals in Tennessee are filling up to capacity. We are seeing the effects of the erosion of our nursing workforce combined with the consequences of letting the Delta variant run rampant in our largely unvaccinated state. Last weekend, I was working in a rural hospital, treating sick COVID-19 patients that needed to be in the […]
Biden mandates vaccines in nursing homes, admonishes GOP governors on school masks
WASHINGTON — Nursing homes will be required to ensure their staffers are vaccinated against COVID-19, or risk losing federal Medicare and Medicaid dollars, the Biden administration announced Wednesday in a major move on vaccinations as the delta variant sweeps many states. President Joe Biden at a press conference also criticized Republican governors who have prohibited […]
Shelby County Commission takes steps to combat pediatric COVID crisis
Shelby County has reached limited availability in ICUs across the county due to a surge of positive COVID-19 cases, prompting the Shelby County Commission to take measures designed to combat high levels of pediatric COVID cases. On Wednesday, commissioners voted to increase the operating budget of Shelby County’s Health Services Division to combat nurse shortages, […]
Vaccination rates of Tennessee youth among the lowest in the nation
In Sullivan County, where COVID cases have tripled in the past two weeks, the local health department’s medical director has started to see a slight but notable shift among the attitudes of parents whose children are old enough to get a vaccine. Public schools have been back in session for just over a week, and […]
Pediatrics association pushes back on Lee and requests meeting
The Tennessee Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement Tuesday firing back to Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order giving parents of school children the ability to opt out of school mask requirements, saying the group “strongly disagrees” with Lee. “We implore all parents to continue to send their children to school masked. […]
Lieutenant governor warns school districts to follow new mask opt-out order
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally threatened Tuesday to take “remedial options” against school systems that refuse to follow the governor’s order allowing parents to opt students out of mask requirements. “I am extremely appalled and alarmed at the response to Gov. Lee’s executive order from Metro Nashville Public Schools and Shelby County Schools. This order was […]
Commentary: Leaders lead.
Enough already. It is time for Nashville to step up and follow New York’s and San Francisco’s lead, and put in place a vaccination/testing mandate for high-contact indoor establishments and large-venue events. That opening paragraph might strike some as delusional: sure, we’re the blue island in a (feels like literally) bloody red sea, but we’re […]
School officials, lawmakers react to Lee order on masks in schools
Shortly after Gov. Bill Lee concluded a Monday press conference at which he announced parents across the state will have the option to decide if their children wear masks in school or not, responses began to pour in from elected officials and school districts. Lee issued an executive order mandating school systems must allow parents […]
Fiscus disputes report she had muzzle sent to her office before firing
Fired state medical director or immunizations Dr. Michelle “Shelley” Fiscus shot back at a Department of Safety report showing she had a muzzle sent to her office days before she was terminated by the Department of Health. “They obviously set up a false account, a fake account with her name and her address,” Brad Fiscus, […]
Governor issues school mask opt-out edict
Rather than call a special session to let the Legislature deal with school board actions, Gov. Bill Lee signed an executive order Monday requiring school systems to let parents opt out of mask mandates. If a school system were to challenge the order, Lee said such a move would be against the law. He noted […]
School boards across state take heat from parents on masks
Beth Simpson, a mother of five who sits on the Johnson City school board, laid out two stacks of printouts for dramatic effect, one to her right and one on her left, as she addressed an audience of parents growing increasingly impatient on Friday night. “Most people are here because of masks,” Simpson said. “That’s […]
Stockard on the Stump: Governor defends no-bid contracts during state of emergency
Gov. Bill Lee is standing behind his administration’s decision to sign hundreds of sole-source contracts over the last year and a half even though many of them didn’t have anything to do with the COVID-19 state of emergency. The governor’s Unified Command Group, made up of the Department of Health, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and […]