At least one Tennessee National Guard member has died "due to symptoms presumed to be related to COVID-19," a Tennessee National Guard spokesman confirmed.
One lawmaker said he was unaware of the death and, also, unaware of any other state legislators who knew of the guardsman's death.
"There's not been a great deal of details about Guard deployments," said state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, state Senate minority leader.
Lt. Col. Darrin Haas, spokesperson for the Tennessee National Guard, said the service member was "not in a duty status" at the time of death, so there would be no further information released.
"Anytime we lose a Tennessee Guardsman, it is a tragedy," Haas wrote in a statement. "Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the service member's family."
Haas said he does not have authority to release any other information concerning COVID-19 statistics for the Tennessee National Guard, including numbers on how many Guard members are vaccinated or unvaccinated, if there were any other Guard members who have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in February 2020 or how many Guard members have tested positive and recovered since the start of the pandemic.
Since the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 began almost two months ago, Tennessee National Guard troops have been called to assist multiple health care systems across the state that have seen patients swarming emergency rooms.
A majority of those patients have been unvaccinated.
The Tennessee National Guard reported last week that there are now 310 soldiers and airmen with the Tennessee National Guard helping at 24 hospitals and eight monoclonal antibody infusion centers across the state.
Haas said any questions regarding numbers would have to be answered by the National Guard office in Washington D.C. When contacted, a spokesman for the Washington D.C. office said questions concerning Tennessee troops would have to be answered by the Tennessee National Guard.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's office also declined comment, relaying questions to the National Guard spokesperson.
State Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, who chairs the Senate State and Local Government Committee that oversees the budget for the Tennessee National Guard, did not return several calls seeking comment.
Yarbro said he felt it was a problem that state legislators were not being informed about the death of a Tennessee National Guard soldier.
Yarbro said he felt there had been a disconnect with the administration regarding COVID-19 and a lack of transparency. He said there has not been bipartisan support and the administration has been "slow or missing in action" with providing information to the legislative branch or the public.
Yarbro said the public and legislature should have more information about what is going on with those troops who are being sent into hospitals and medical centers.
"Our National Guard has repeatedly responded to going into harm's way," he said.
He said he has not heard any answers about how many soldiers and airmen may have gotten sick or been hospitalized due to COVID-19, if vaccinations are working or if there are any other deaths related to the virus.
"I think those are very important questions to ask and be made available, but I'm not aware right now," he said. "I don't think the administration has made that available."
Read more at TennesseeLookout.com.