County Mayor’s Notes – April 24th, 2020

Governor Lee’s Plan to Reopen
The Governor held a press conference this morning outlining the state’s guidance for reopening communities. The guidelines are for the 89 counties with state-operated health departments, including Cumberland County. A recording of the press conference can be found here:
https://sts.streamingvideo.tn.gov/Mediasite/Play/84821c455d0d46a58d0b1934fcd2b9331d?catalog=e8dd4e04d1064f2ab14ba2b7162822d021

Here are some highlights from the Governor’s Office:

• April 27^th– Restaurants can open (*with restrictions)
• April 29^th– Retail stores can open (*with restrictions)
• Next week additional guidance will be provided for gyms, churches, hospitals, and physician practices.
• Some businesses will not be permitted to open until sometime in May during Phase 2. Examples include close-contact services such as barbershops, salons, and tattoo shops.

*Specific information about restrictions is discussed by the Governor during the conference within the following timeframe 17:00-21:00.

I was in contact with the Governor’s Office today. The close-contact businesses are still under Executive Order, by the Governor, to be closed.  That means no Mayor has the legal authority to open them.  Only the Governor can.

Today is the launch of the Governor’s Tennessee Pledge, his plan to help Tennesseans get back to work in a safe environment while restoring their livelihoods and rebooting the state’s economy. More information about the Tennessee Pledge can be found here: https://www.tn.gov/governor/covid-19/economic-recovery/tennessee-pledge.html.

Guidelines from the Governor and other information can be found here:
https://www.tn.gov/governor/covid-19/economic-recovery.html

COVID-19 Update
According to the Tennessee Department of Health, 67 residents of Cumberland County have tested positive for COVID-19 and 36 have recovered, leaving 31 active cases.  Our negative cases went back up and are at 1,178.  I was told the decrease yesterday was due to a software glitch.  No deaths have been reported in Cumberland County.  1,245 people have been tested.  Contact tracing is standard in all cases, so if you have been in close contact with someone that has tested positive, you will be notified.  You do not have to have symptoms to be tested.

Contact tracing is completed by the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH).  Once a patient is contacted about a positive test result by the health department or their local primary care physician, they are immediately contacted by the TDH contact tracing team who investigates their movements and persons that they may have come in close contact with.  TDH considers close contact to be within six feet for more than 10 minutes.  TDH employees will identify themselves when calling. Contact tracing is done out of the regional office. If you are contacted and have questions or concerns about authenticity, etc., feel free to call 931-646-7586.

These numbers are intended to be a brief summary of the information provided by the Tennessee Department of Health.  More detailed information can be found here:
https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov.html

Health Department Testing
Your primary care physician and the local Health Department are capable of testing for COVID-19.  The local Health Department (1503 South Main Street) is conducting drive through testing Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 3 PM.  For more information call 931-484-6196. 

Thank you for being part of the solution and thank you for the opportunity to serve as your County Mayor.  If you are interested in hearing my thoughts and views on news, events, and activities in Cumberland County, please subscribe to my newsletter, and follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Thank you,

Allen Foster
Cumberland County Mayor
http://allenfoster.net