Tennessee's governor is ordering everyone to stay home unless they absolutely have to.
Gov. Bill Lee signed Executive Order 23 on Thursday, reinforcing a previous executive order and instead of strongly urging Tennesseans to stay at home unless absolutely necessary, he mandated it.
We're still waiting on clarification on exactly how the order will be enforced, though Lee said he was leaving that up to local jurisdictions.
He said he wanted to take more steps to ensure residents stay in place and help prevent the potential spread of the coronavirus.
That means if you don't have to get out, don't. But many people do have questions about what exactly the order means. So we took a look at the executive order, which explained exactly what Tennesseans could and could not do in order to keep everyone safe.
You Can:
- Go to work if you are a necessary employee
- Go to the grocery store, convenience store, or warehouse store to get necessary items. You should limit the members of the family going with you if possible, and stay six feet away from other people.
- Go to necessary doctor appointments and to the pharmacy to pick up medication or other healthcare necessities
- Care for family members, a friend or pet in another household if needed
- Pickup takeout or delivery food
- Get outside and take a walk, bike ride, play golf, and other recreational activities where you can still maintain a safe social distance of six feet from another person.
- Take a drive or ride in a vehicle.
- Walk your pet or take them to the veterinarian
- Get deliveries from any business that delivers
- Attend a wedding or funeral as long as safe social distance is maintained, though it strongly encouraged to postpone if possible
- Hunting, boating and fishing, according to TWRA, as long as you maintain safe social distance
You should not:
- Go to work unless you are working at an essential business
- Visit friends and family if there is no urgent need
- Maintain less than 6 feet of distance from others when you go out
- Visit loved ones in the hospital, nursing home, skilled nursing facility or other residential care facilities, except for limited exceptions as provided on the facility websites.