A state of emergency remains in effect for Tennessee, partially to deal with COVID-19, even though the governor recently declined to extend a 20-month-old executive order in response to the pandemic.
Tennessee is at a level 3 emergency to handle the COVID-19 pandemic and six other federally recognized disasters, according to Tennessee Emegency Management Agency spokesperson Dean Flener.
The level 3 designation under the Tennessee Emergency Management Plan adopted in 2018 means a serious emergency or minor disaster has occurred or a situation is deteriorating rapidly and public warnings are being issued. Tennessee has five levels in its plan, putting level 3 in the middle.
“There’s still a lot of engagement that we have related to COVID, just as we are still engaged with Waverly with the recovery from the floods in August,” Flener said. “… And of course we are still engaged in COVID, not just from the response part of it but also in the recovery of it as the federal dollars that are being made available … from FEMA, especially in terms of being the state-level administrator for FEMA grant programs and whatever that is involved with COVID from FEMA.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency does not require a state of emergency to be declared in order to provide federal funds, but a declaration does provide a communication “tool” to show FEMA the seriousness of a disaster.