Rising case counts and growing strains on hospitals are prompting state leaders to press Tennesseans to take steps to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Emerging from quarantine Wednesday to speak with the press, Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday he'd be extending at the end of the month emergency orders that allow county mayors to impose mask requirements and that allow governments to meet virtually.
If they're not already, county leaders should consider imposing mask mandates for residents who go out into public or open spaces, Lee said.
Knox and Sevier counties are among those in East Tennessee with mask requirements.
"The most important thing that I can do as governor of this state is to remind people that it's very important to wear a mask. It's why we have public service announcement campaigns going on across the state right now," said Lee, who went into quarantine after a member of his security detail earlier this month was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Neither Lee nor his wife, Maria, fell ill due to the virus.
Dr. Wendy Long, head of the Tennessee Hospital Association, echoed Lee on Wednesday. Hospitalizations have gone up at "an alarming rate," she said.
New records are being set every day, she said.
"The time to act is now before flu season becomes an issue," Long said.
Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said at Lee's briefing that transmission rates of the virus are genuinely going up. It's not because the state is doing more testing, she said. It's because people are catching the virus while socializing, she said.
Authorities said rural counties are seeing upticks in the virus and in hospitalizations and deaths.
Lee said the state is resuming "pop-up testing" this weekend in a handful of counties across the state, including in Grainger County. Free testing will be available for those concerned about possible exposure or symptoms.
Lee said an estimated 62 percent of state residents now live in a place where there's a mask mandate while out among others.
"Many of those decisions have been made in the last few days," he said.