NASHVILLE, Tenn. – As their state faced one of its toughest months of the pandemic, Tennesseans watched Gov.
Bill Lee’s rare primetime address to see whether new public restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus might be coming.It was late December, and the state’s hospitals were bursting at the seams with virus patients.
Spiraling caseloads placed Tennessee among the worst states in the nation per capita, medical experts were warning that the health care system could not survive another coronavirus spike, and Lee had been affected personally -- his wife had the virus and the governor himself was in quarantine.