NASHVILLE - In his weekly COVID-19 briefing with Tennessee legislators, Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday urged senators to "take heart" and "be hopeful" while pointing out the pandemic is coming at the intersection of both Easter this coming Sunday and Passover, a Jewish holiday that runs April 8-16.
Noting the nation and Tennessee face "the intersection of one of the greatest crises we've faced in our state in decades," the Republican governor who often speaks about faith noted "that crisis is intersecting with the greatest event that the world has ever known, which provided the greatest hope for all of eternity. Those two things are happening at the same time in our state. And while we will do everything we can from a state's response perspective, we know that God can grant us favor."
Lee noted "tonight, in fact, is Passover, which is interesting to me. Thousands, millions of people around the world will celebrate that historic event when a plague passed over a nation."
He asked lawmakers "regardless of your faith tradition or regardless of where you are in your celebration of this week that you would join me to ask God to grant us favor in our efforts as we work together to mitigate the spread of this."
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com.