The “Tennessee Pledge” is a plan to help Tennesseans return to work in a safe environment,
restore their livelihoods and reboot our state’s economy.

COVID-19 is an unprecedented and rapidly evolving threat facing Tennessee and the world.

The health and safety of Tennesseans remains our number one priority. Much of our state’s
current success in this fight is because Tennesseans naturally choose to put each other first
and voluntarily adopt safe, new habits. It’s that volunteer spirit that’s been fighting this
pandemic, and it’s the same volunteer spirit that will rebuild our economy.

This plan was developed by Governor Lee, the Unified Command Group (UCG) and
Tennessee’s Economic Recovery Group (ERG) with input from health experts, state and local
partners and business and industry leaders. It includes specific recommendations which
enable most businesses to reopen responsibly without the burden of heavy mandates. This
will be a gradual process, with room to adjust as we evaluate changing data.

The Tennessee Pledge asks businesses to provide safe working conditions that protect both
employees and consumers, while securing their livelihoods. This plan also asks employees
to commit to protecting themselves, their co-workers and the customers they serve. Finally,
we encourage every Tennessee resident to be on the same team with our businesses: act
responsibly by following recommended guidelines for social distancing, hygiene and wearing
protective equipment when appropriate.

Only by working together as a community of volunteers can we successfully reboot our
economy—a vital component of our lives, security and liberty—and successfully move past
this public health crisis.

Our Health

Tennessee’s first case of COVID-19 was reported on March 4, 2020. Over the subsequent
weeks, case numbers increased rapidly. On April 2, Governor Lee signed his Safer at Home
order to implement statewide restrictions on non-essential business and travel in order to
“flatten the curve” and quickly slow the spread of disease. This order gave Tennessee and
its healthcare system enough time to increase testing, plan for additional healthcare facility
capacity and secure enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect our healthcare
workers.

In the weeks since the Safer at Home order, Tennessee has made impressive progress on
slowing the spread of disease and improving Tennessee’s readiness.

• Disease monitoring: The curve of illness is flattening. Syndromic data monitoring
of influenza-like illness has seen a steady decline since mid-March and syndromic
data monitoring of COVID-19-like illness has seen a steady decline since the end of
March. The daily growth rate of new cases reported has been stable for more than
14 days.
• Increase in testing: Tennessee has dramatically increased testing capacity, with
rapid deployment of large volume and rapid testing when cases are identified in
high-risk populations. Testing is available throughout the state, and residents have
access to testing via health care providers, local health departments and drive thru
stations in every part of the state. Testing for expanded symptomatology has also
been implemented to better ascertain the true volume of disease. There has been a
downward trajectory of positive tests as a percentage of total tests since April 1.
• Increase in health care capacity: Careful monitoring of hospital bed usage shows
capacity to treat COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. The UCG has been working
with hospitals, providers and regional planning groups to increase the capacity of
current facilities to “surge” if and when it is needed and to plan for additional clinical
alternative care sites if needed.
• Increase in PPE available: LaunchTN, Tennessee’s own innovation body, has been
working closely with businesses across Tennessee and beyond to identify possible
sources of masks, gloves and other forms of PPE. The UCG has streamlined requests
for PPE through regional emergency management coordinators and TEMA. To date,
millions of dollars have been dedicated to the purchase of PPE to supplement
routine supply channels for health care workers and first responders.

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