Where is responsibility from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee?
* Tennessee falls near the bottom of all states in terms of the percentage of the population fully vaccinated – 10.4%, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 vaccine tracker as of Wednesday. Alabama has vaccinated 10.3% of its population, and Georgia – which comes in dead last – has vaccinated 10.1% of its population.
Aside from Southern states’ general GOP leanings, might Lee’s shoulder-to-shoulder, unmasked chats on Lower Broadway in Nashville last week – despite the city still having a mask mandate – have anything to do with Tennesseans blasé attitude about getting vaccinated? Might his refusal to initiate a statewide mask mandate indicate we have nothing to fear? Might his insistence that Tennessee is “open” despite our once-again rising COVID numbers say we needn’t worry?
* One of Lee’s top legislative priorities for the year is a bill Republicans have named “constitutional carry” which would allow people 21 and older and military members ages 18-20 to carry handguns without a permit. No permit at all. It applies to both concealed and open carrying of guns. It is opposed by law enforcement. So much for the governor’s claims of supporting law enforcement.
* Perhaps Lee’s least showing of responsibility and empathy has been in continuing to ignore the state’s growing need for Medicaid expansion for our state’s 300,000 to 600,000 uninsured and underinsured residents caught between the state’s Medicaid plan and the Affordable Care Act.