The Republican Party is between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand they need the economy to keep going since that’s their pretend skill, and on the other hand they have zero interest in helping their constituents when they would rather bailout big businesses. It’s the GOP’s great magic trick. So, under the guise of words like “freedom” and “Constitution,” conservative leaders across the country are calling for reopening areas that have been closed down due to the public health crisis of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Last week, Republican Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee, took time away from signing laws designed to discriminate against LGBTQ parents to tell Tennesseans that he, Bill Lee, was willing to risk their lives to get business going as usual.
On Monday, Gov. Lee’s plan to reopen Tennessee begins, with restaurants in some parts of the state being allowed to serve patrons inside. This grand reopening for freedom and the American way comes one day after the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, announced that the Volunteer State saw its largest single-day spike in cases of COVID-19.
According to NPR, as of Monday morning, Tennessee has just under 10,000 confirmed cases, and saw an increase on Sunday of 478 cases, a “5.2% increase from the previous day.” Next door, newly elected Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, who has pushed for more serious public health stay-at-home measures, has seen considerably lower numbers (even when you take population differences into account). And while you might think that Gov. Lee would look out his back door and consider emulating the Kentucky governor, you would be wrong.
Trying to explain numbers or science or facts to people like Aubrey Whitlock, a North Carolina “ReOpen” organizer who has tested positive for the virus and may have attended rallies risking hundreds of peoples’ lives, seems like a tall order. The stupid is strong in that one.
Tennessee’s new reopening comes with caveats. For example, self-serve buffets won’t be open, live music and bars will not reopen, and restaurants that are open will need to keep patrons at least 6 feet away from one another, and only keep 50% capacity at most. Also, Tennessee officials are asking businesses to “screen” employees and customers for “signs of illness.” This of course, may help with people who have symptoms, but will obviously not help with the very well-documented thousands (and possibly millions) of asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers.
More liberal municipalities in the state, with larger urban areas like Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville, are not reopening today, but on their own timelines.
