KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — The Knox County Bord of Health is working to decide on how to balance what's best for the county and what's best for the University of Tennessee, on and off-campus, after students returned to classes.
The board met via Zoom Wednesday night, and concern lingered on how a rise in off-campus cases will impact the county.
The board has made a lot of decisions surrounding the community, but now they struggle with how to approach UT's student population of more than 30,000.
"The success of our campus is not just a public health issue, but it's also an economic issue," said board member Dr. James Shamiyeh. "We're in a position in which what's best for the campus might not be best for the rest of the community."
Weekend off-campus events are already causing concerns.
"Within the county, we have two different populations of things we would potentially need to address and I'm not sure of the right way to address it," he said.
The board questioned their power to make surgical regulations focused around the campus.
"We may have the ability to do geographic restrictions versus open to the entire county," said board member Dr. Patrick O'Brien.
He was quickly told by legal counsel it's not that easy.
"The narrower you get in your definitions the more problematic it is. The easiest thing is to say this board has jurisdiction over the county and here is the rule of the county," said attorney David Sanders.
Board member Dr. Jack Gotcher said UT Chancellor Donde Plowman asked if they could limit gatherings to 25, but he said it's not possible because the whole county is trending down in cases.
They agreed to write a letter to Plowman asking her what recommendations she'd like them to make for off-campus concerns.
Since bars close at 10 p.m., restaurants have become the new hangout.
"There's a lot of businesses that really depend on those college patrons to thrive," said Shamiyeh.
The board questioned if any place that sells alcohol, like restaurants, should also have to follow the curfew, but did not agree on a unanimous decision.
"We want to work hand in hand with the university. Try to do what we can to implement positive change around the university," said O'Brien.
Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs questioned an end date for the mask mandate. The board agreed it's still too soon to tell.