Recent editorials from Tennessee newspapers:
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May 3
The Johnson City Press on testing nursing home residents:
Families of nursing home residents surely were concerned in recent weeks when four area facilities reported positive novel coronavirus test results among employees and patients.
Relief likely followed when those same nursing homes reported that retesting of those same patients produced negative results. Were the original tests false positives? If so, why?
Given the implications COVID-19 has for vulnerable populations, especially older people residing in common facilities, answers are a must.
The Northeast Regional Health Office is investigating. Dr. David Kirschke, office’s director, says the tests were processed by an out-of-state lab that the health department is “not very familiar with,” but the lab used a normally reliable and widely used method of testing. The retests were conducted by a state lab.
None of the people who originally tested positive was symptomatic, but the Regional Health Office wisely continued to act as if all had the virus out of caution for other residents and employees in the homes.
The nursing homes initiated the facility-wide tests for the same reasons. The state of Tennessee had not yet required such tests, despite large outbreaks at homes across the country and in Tennessee. In late March and early April, 44 COVID-19 cases emerged at a single facility in Cookeville.
The local nursing home situation was developing at the same time the state experienced a spike in cases, largely because of those at two prisons - nearly 600 at one and more than 1,300 at another.
Like schools, both nursing homes and prisons are densely populated places. People are in close quarters 24 hours each day, seven days each week. The arrival of one infected person could have sweeping implications in either setting.
Tennessee was aggressive enough to shutter school buildings in mid-March, a decision that undoubtedly helped limit the virus’ spread. Shutting down all nursing care facilities and prisons was not an easy option.
There was, however, plenty of reason early in the pandemic for the state to aggressively test both confined populations for COVID-19. That did not happen. Such testing should have been a primary objective.
On Wednesday, a month after the nursing home situation in Cookeville, Gov. Bill Lee announced that the state would coordinate COVID-19 testing in the more than 700 nursing care facilities across Tennessee. And on Thursday, he made a similar announcement regarding the state’s 14 prisons.
Lessons are emerging left and right from the COVID-19 crisis. Two come to mind here. Amid such a pandemic, the state should coordinate all testing to ensure standardization and reliability. Secondly, populations residing in close quarters should be first on the list.
Online: https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/
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May 1
The Kingsport Times-News on reopening courtrooms:
Tennessee courtrooms were to reopen at the end of April but will now remain mostly closed through the end of May because of a Supreme Court order issued April 24. The order also stated that jury trials will remain suspended until July 3.
Why? The coronavirus didn’t go away at the end of April and won’t be gone by the end of May, or June, or perhaps through the end of the year if even then. Will justice be denied until then? Are some of those awaiting trial who are not candidates for stay-at-home programs or can’t afford bail to remain locked up for the duration? Isn’t that cruel and unreasonable for those accused but who might be found innocent?
As with the previous orders related to COVID-19, the most recent applies to all state and local courts across Tennessee, including state circuit and chancery courts, general sessions courts, juvenile courts and municipal courts. That’s true where COVID-19 has taken a stronger hold such as Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville. And it’s true where there are much fewer cases, such as everywhere else in Tennessee.
Whether local courts open should be a local decision, not a dictate from the state. As Chief Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins stated in the order, “The facilities, resources, and circumstances of each county and judicial district greatly vary across the state, and the Court intends to give local courts the ability to expand in-person hearings if they safely can do so. What works for a juvenile court in Henry County may not work for a criminal circuit court in Shelby County or chancery court in Mountain City,” he said.
So why continue to limit all jurisdictions to only in-person hearings?
Some courts are able to operate through remote proceedings such as video or audio conferencing, but there is a growing backlog of cases in courts where there were backlogs even before COVID-19. For example, Washington County recently had about 1,300 general sessions cases and 450 criminal court cases waiting to be heard. Cases are simply being reset, and if there is a second wave of COVID-19 later this year, cases will be severely backed up statewide.
There are ways jurors can be social distanced, perhaps by spacing them in the first rows of courthouse seating, perhaps through technology.
Consumers are expected to continue to practice social distancing in so-called essential service businesses such as supermarkets, grocery stores, big-box stores, pharmacies, convenience and discount stores, banks, and even farmers markets, to name just a few. But as with our courts, so-called non-essential businesses were closed - some still are - despite that they offered the same opportunities to observe social distancing, including restaurants, bars, gun stores, construction, and even barbershops and hair and nail salons.
Tennessee must get working again. And that should include our courts.
Online: https://www.timesnews.net/
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April 30
The Crossville Chronicle on providing counties with better internet service:
Cumberland County residents have depended even more upon their internet service providers during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people set up their offices to work from home or students try to keep up with their college and local academics online.
Gov. Bill Lee has asked employers to continue to allow people to work from home even as some businesses again open their doors to the public. State employees will be logging in from home through the end of May.
But even before COVID-19, more and more work, commerce and recreation was taking place online.
This massive move toward telework is leaving many in Cumberland County behind, however. A survey of internet service last year found lack of high-speed internet was a countywide problem. Out of the 1,500 households participating in the survey, 99% reported download speeds below the federal standard for broadband internet: 25 Mbps. Worse, more than half of the households didn’t have access to 5 Mbps download speed.
And that’s just the people who have access to a service provider. Many portions of the county have no viable options for service.
There has been good news on this front. Ben Lomand, which operates VolFirst in Cumberland County, was awarded a $2.24 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February. In March, the telecommunications provider was among the recipients of state funding, with an additional $2 million grant.
These grants will provide funding for an expansion of service north of Interstate 40 in the Hwy. 127 N. area, with as many as 1,600 households included. The federal grant will include extension of service to about 100 square miles north of Fairfield Glade west toward No Business Creek and Clear Creek and a section near Crab Orchard in the area of Smith Mountain Rd., Millstone Mountain Rd. and Long Rockhouse Branch. The project includes about 222 homes, but County Mayor Allen Foster said this project would also help bring infrastructure to serve more people once they complete construction.
“This is about hope,” Foster told the Chronicle in February. “Other people are beginning to get service. This is an excellent first step.”
We know there are still many areas of our county that suffer from no service or inadequate service. It can be frustrating to hear other areas are getting service while you languish with an eternal “buffering” sign on your television.
Unfortunately, it will take years to get Cumberland County internet service up to speed for more of our residents. And the pandemic has highlighted how vital this service can be.
We hope more grants come to Cumberland County service providers so they can help get us all online.
Online: https://www.crossville-chronicle.com/
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