TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jan 6, 2022

Gov. Bill Lee will deny Shelby County’s request to issue a mask mandate, Action News 5 reports. Last week, the county health department said it would ask the state for permission to issue a countywide mask mandate given that the county is reporting the highest case numbers since the pandemic began. In response to the request, the governor’s office said, “Shelby County has reached out to our office. Per Tennessee state law, government mask mandates are not permitted, unless there is a statewide emergency declaration and COVID-19 numbers exceed a specified threshold.” The governor’s spokesperson went on to say Lee has no plans at this time to declare another state emergency based on the fact that while case numbers are high there is no equal increase in the number of hospitalizations.