TN Governor Dismisses Birx’s Recommendation to Shut Down Bars Amid COVID-19 Cases Surge

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) dismissed Dr. Deborah Birx’s suggestion that he consider shutting down bars and limiting indoor dining capacity at restaurants due to the surge in coronavirus cases in his state.

The White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator traveled to Tennessee on Monday to discuss the state’s increase in coronavirus cases.

As Tennessee has over 96,000 reported cases, Birx warned that data suggests rural Tennessee is seeing a spread of the virus as well, not just the cities.

Without stricter measures to mitigate the spread of the virus, Tennessee could be faced with a situation similar to other states battling surges in cases.

“It is at this very moment where we could change the trajectory of the epidemic before it goes into full of what we call logarithmic spread, as we’ve seen across the South,” Birx said at the joint press conference.

See Lee’s remarks below (starting at 19:00):

However, Lee did not appear open to the idea of shutting down again as he dismissed Birx’s warnings. When asked by a reporter if he would close bars and limit indoor dining as Birx suggested, Lee said he would not.