Governor Bill Lee called out Tennessee for its recent Thanksgiving gatherings as selfish, indifferent, and foolish decisions. The governor issued these remarks during a press conference as some of the first COVID-19 vaccines were administered at Vanderbilt University.
“We do stand here and celebrate a tremendous breakthrough in this pandemic,” stated Lee. “But there is a darkness before the dawn that’s happening right here in Tennessee – we have to recognize that. Tennessee’s cases are surging. The holidays have caught up with us. Decisions that some made during Thanksgiving have a severe reality in this hospital and all across Tennessee today.”
The governor didn’t explain what decisions he was referring to, nor did he explain how they led to a spike in cases. The Tennessee Department of Health released case reports this week; some county health officials attributed the spikes to Thanksgiving gatherings.
Lee admonished the people of Tennessee for being inconsiderate by choosing to visit friends and family during the holidays, or opting to not wear a mask.
“One thing that this vaccine will not solve, one thing that it will not cure, is selfishness or indifference to what’s happening to our neighbors around us,” continued Lee. “This vaccine will not cure foolish decisions about how we gather. It won’t cure an attitude of a refusal to wear a mask. It won’t cure the idea that I will take my chances and that will not impact someone else’s life. I think Tennesseans have a tremendous capacity right now to responsibly make decisions that will serve their neighbor in the process. This vaccine is a very powerful tool – but it will take some time to have a real impact. And in the meantime, it is the very simple things that Tennesseans can do that will help us turn the tide on COVID-19 in our state.”
Lee asserted that the decision to wear a mask would possibly prevent the wearer from having to be treated in a hospital. Tennessee’s state of emergency is set to expire December 29th. It is unclear whether the governor will continue to extend the order after the year’s end. December 1st marked the ninth month of the national emergency.
In light of Lee’s latest remarks, The Tennessee Star asked spokespersons within the governor’s office if Lee intends on implementing any statewide mandates ahead of Christmas or in the coming months. Their spokespersons didn’t respond by press time.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
I’m displeased with his abdication of leadership with respect to the 4 largest counties in Tennessee on Covid-19 matters.
We need executive leadership, accountable to the voters, and not appointed Health Department apparatchiks who issue edicts as if they’re functionaries in a Kafkaesque bureaucracy.
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He is supposed to address the state tomorrow. Shouldn’t Bill do the right thing and self quarantine for 14 days since he’s had close contact with the infected, or will he proceed with a super-spreading press conference?
Also note how they try to excuse his exposure with “he doesn’t have any symptoms and feels fine” when we have been told for months that all asymptomatic people are infected spreaders.
Oops….must not have worn a mask?
https://www.wjhl.com/news/regional/tennessee/tennessee-first-lady-maria-lee-tests-positive-for-covid-19/
https://www.nga.org/news/press-releases/400-representatives-of-u-s-china-attend-collaboration-summit-in-kentucky/
Lee makes me sick with the rest of the commies !
Why are hospitals not counting flu anymore why have zero prescriptions been written for flu meds ? Because it’s all a hoax ! The hospital does not get money if they say flu but if it’s labeled as Covid the cash in they federal govt ! This shit is sick and the brainwashing is thick ! Wake up people !!!! Bill Lee is scared to stand up for the truth he is not a leader he is a pussy working with the commies ! This virus is so smart it knows to leave kids alone and stay out of Walmart !!!! Wow do research don’t let the tv tell you what to think !
This is one of the few areas where I AGREE with the Governor. Despite his right-wing defects in other issues, he is right to call people who celebrated foolishly during Thanksgiving (or, is it Thankstaking, as we stole from the Indians). If we Tennesseans really love one another, we will act in such a way as not to endanger the welfare of our loved ones and neighbors. Talk about family values!
Years from now psychological studies will be done on why so few were able to convince so many of the lies that ” our health and government leaders” have perpetuated. If you subscribe to anything the CDC puts out at this point , they have said that the actual number of COVID cases is likely 10 times , possibly up to 24 times , the number of positive tests , assuming the tests are accurate. If that is true , then in a very few weeks – and before the COVID jab gets distributed – everyone in the state will have had COVID. Then what? Well surely not herd immunity…
I can not believe this TN governor chooses to belittle and insult the people that have gotten sick due to COVID. This man is not a leader.
The real foolish decision that Tennesseans made was to elect this idiot as governor. I did NOT vote for him in the primary because his credentials were no better than those of the now long gone RINO Senator Bob Corker. That is, a lot of money and a complicit media. I guess he gets off to bad mouthing the very people he is supposed to lead and support. A really bad joke on us.
Gary Humble or Andy Ogles 2022!
Maybe we should just call our Thanksgiving dinner “Boots & BBQ” and then we can get a huge crowd together and it will be ok, right Bill?
https://tennesseestar.com/2020/11/02/tennessees-top-republicans-request-two-things-vote-tuesday-and-recruit-your-friends-to-do-the-same/
I was listening to “the little tin god’s” radio report back before Thanksgiving when he was concerned about the upsurge in Covid cases in TN. He was committed to not declaring a mask mandate himself and would continue to leave that decision to the mayors. He stated that the counties with mask mandates accounted for 70% of our population, and 80% of Tennesseans were voluntarily wearing masks.Lemme see…that sort of coincides with the fact that 85% of Covid “victims” are mask wearers, doesn’t it? An earlier CDC study confirmed that masks did nothing to protect people from the flu virus. Our Guvna continues to rant about wearing masks, avoiding our loved ones, and living our lives like a hermit in order to avoid becoming infected with a “killer” disease that only has a 99.98% survival rate. And WE’RE selfish, indifferent and FOOLISH??
Is Lee trying to be the next Gavin Newsom? Having just gotten back from a business trip to Kalifornia that I could not avoid, the only word I can come up with for what is happening out there is “dystopian.” If Lee expects us to go that route, he may just find himself resurrecting the practice of tar and feathering. Kalifornians may put up with the extreme lockdown crap like the good sheep they are, but Tennesseans will not.
Governor Lee—Bye, bye, so long, farewell. Me? According to Jon Meacham, I’m just a lizard brain deplorable. Merry Christmas everyone!
Following the scientific evidence is not the same as following your Liberal RINO socialist ideology.
It’s obvious Bill Lee never investigated the views of the Great Barrington Declaration and the thousands of doctors and researchers who don’t agree with the MSM, the bureaucrats like Fauci and Big Pharma. It seems the only conservative value he holds is being against abortion.
Lee is a sheeple who wants to be “in” with the global oligarchy and their heroes George Soros, Bill Gates and the WEF. It’s their narrative he’s pushing – a narrative that kills small businesses, ruins our kids’ education as badly as Common Core, and causes pain and suffering in families from mental health problems.
Bill Lee, you will be accountable to your Maker for these evil deeds.
Addicted to that China money…he’s more than welcome to resign. Many of us are done with this mandate garbage and are no longer willing to comply.
I am so glad this post is here so I can vent. We see democratic governors and mayors all over the country. Saying one thing and doing another. Lee is no different. We recently saw pictures of him on a house boat with a dozen or so people partying and no mask. We saw pics of him in DC partying with no mask. Now he tells us we are selfish for not wearing a mask. He’s no better than Cooper. There is no backbone in the Republican Party any longer in Tennessee.
Has there ever been?
Shame on you, Guv’na. How about tackling the obesity problem Tennessee has?
Bingo. That and the opioids.
Lee may be parroting this message since there is definitely more of a push for a statewide mask mandate from health professionals, politicians, and the media. I was not surprised that the mask and lockdown shenanigans cropped back up before the holidays. Yet we are still seeing mostly Democrat politicians being caught without them. What do they know about mask mania that we don’t? Probably what we have all been thinking.
You may want to also internet search the John Hopkins University study that was deleted because it showed that total deaths in the US in 2020 were no different than prior years.
This man is a clown, a product of too much Television, as most of America. I will not vote for him again, nor do business with Lee Company again. There are over 200 Cold Viruses that cause respiratory symptoms. One any given day, you or I could could either have a bad cold or a mild cold, a bad flu or a mild flu, a bad stomach bug or a mild stomach bug. It has been that way for thousands of years. Back in the day people died of “Natural Causes.” Today, every corpse is swabbed for a fraudulent PCR test and deemed COVID-19. Sanitation and nutrition have done more for public health than Vaccines and Shots. After 22 years at bedside I know this. You can’t fix stupid. Cola has Phosphoric Acid in it, which depletes Calcium. Your body then uses Vitamin D up to replace the Calcium. The majority of those not doing well from this Cold season are Vitamin D deficient. I am over Rockefeller Medicine and hope to leave Bedside Nursing in 2021. We rank 37th in outcomes. Good luck.
Good advice on Vitamin D. Most effective therapy for covid sufferers and as prophylactic, in the 80%+ range of success. D3 is cheap, readily available and requires no taxpayer billions to population control nutjobs for vaccines that confer no immunity. The fact that the government has done next to zero promotion of building/maintaining your immune system and instead mandates face diapers should tell you that you are truly on your own for your health.
Lee has become a Democrat! I will not vote for this idiot again!
The normal flu and the complications it causes kills 40-60 thousand a year, but this year I guess it didn’t kill anyone. Little tin Gods, have started pushing the middle or end of 2021 before it’s safe to return to normal, and this week a few said sometime in 2022. I guess mail in voting will be the only safe way to vote in the mid terms. After all, mail in voting allows a candidate to claim victory before the counting is final.