This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Gov.
Want to read more stories like this? A subscription to one of our Tennessee publications gets you unlimited access to all the latest politics news, podcasts like Grand Divisions, plus newsletters, a personalized mobile experience and the ability to tap into stories, photos and videos from throughout the USA TODAY Network's daily sites. Reach Yue Stella Yu at Follow her on Twitter at bystellayu_tnsn. The law prohibiting schools from issuing mask mandates remains blocked in federal court. Some of the laws have drawn legal challenges. "But either way, the state’s strong fiscal position will allow Tennessee to take care of Tennesseans," he added.
When asked if he is concerned about losing federal funds due to the soon-to-expire state of emergency, McNally spokesperson Adam Kleinheider said the lieutenant governor "is not convinced the decision will put any federal funds at risk." But I agree with Governor Lee that the emergency phase is now over."
"Vaccination should still be highly encouraged and all of us should continue to act responsibly. But as the pandemic recedes and the virus becomes endemic, we must transition in how we approach it," he said in a statement. He said the special session held by the legislature and Lee's decision to let the state of emergency expire are part of an effort to develop "a new long term approach to managing this virus." Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, also applauded Lee's decision, but cautioned the pandemic is not over. In a tweet on Friday, Sexton said he agreed it was time to end the emergency. House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, told The Tennessean last week he will unlikely loosen the laws during the regular session. But he said some provisions needed a "correction" and urged the legislature to amend the bill in January. Lee, who had resisted the special session and remained reluctant to express his opinion on the measures, signed the bill into law last week. One all-encompassing measure set a stringent standard for governments and schools to implement mask mandates, and outlawed most vaccine requirements.
The Tennessee legislature, where Republicans hold a supermajority, swiftly passed a series of laws last month during a special session that significantly rolled back the state's COVID-19 restrictions. In July 2020, Lee said he believed an earlier implementation of mask mandates would have helped avoid business shutdowns. Through an executive order, he granted county mayors the authority to implement their own mask mandates, and encouraged them to do so. Over the past 20 months, Lee never implemented a statewide mask mandate, but did restrict gathering sizes during the winter COVID-19 surge last year. "This emergency declaration is an important next step in our efforts to treat and mitigate the impact of this disease," the governor said at the time. Lee declared the state of emergency on March 12, 2020, more than a week after the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Tennessee and a day after the World Health Organization declared the disease a global pandemic. The governor also will no longer have the power to suspend the new law, unless the state of emergency is reinstated. Under the new law, governments and schools can only require masks if there's a state of emergency and if there is an extreme surge of 1,000 infections or more for every 100,000 residents in a 14-day period. Related: This week in coronavirus: School mask battles move to courtįollowing the passage of a sweeping rollback on COVID-19 restrictions, the end of the state of emergency effectively ends all mask mandates by governments and schools, unless they receive an exemption from the rules issued by the state Comptroller's Office. With less than half of the population vaccinated, Tennessee still ranks near the bottom of all 50 states in vaccination rate. The average number of daily infections in Tennessee has fallen in recent months, but still remains at a much higher level than before the delta variant surge.
The governor's decision comes as the state still is grappling with COVID-19.