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A doctor’s plea to Gov. Lee

Posted 12/22/20

Dr. Thomas Phelps with ProtectMyCare.org is circulating an email plea asking Tennessee residents to send a message to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. Here's the link: http://protectmycare.org/covid19tn The letter Phelps is suggesting is as follows: Dear Governor Lee:...

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A doctor’s plea to Gov. Lee

Posted

Dr. Thomas Phelps with ProtectMyCare.org is circulating an email plea asking Tennessee residents to send a message to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.

Here's the link: http://protectmycare.org/covid19tn

The letter Phelps is suggesting is as follows:

Dear Governor Lee:

Covid-19 infection rates are at another critical peak.  Here in Tennessee, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been spreading exponentially. Hospitals in the state are strained and at capacity with these increased hospitalizations in ICUs, inpatient floors, and ERs.   Here is the latest data on COVID-19 in TN (covidactnow.org/us/tn/chart/5).  Here is a comparison of counties in TN (covidactnow.org/share/7101). 

Please follow the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci, with the White House Coronavirus Task Force and Tennessee’s own health professionals.  Please issue a state-wide universal mask mandate requiring masking in public in all counties of TN (except age below 2 years). There is undisputed scientific evidence that wearing masks decreases the spread of COVID-19.  Please review the study conducted at Vanderbilt University. Universal mask-wearing is a very effective and important strategy to continue the fight against COVID-19.

Urging counties to issue their own mandates or individuals to take responsibility has not worked. Counties that have issued mask mandates have proven it works. Counties that have refused your own urging, and the urging of Dr. Birx to issue mask mandates have not only seen their strategy fail, but their refusal to issue mask mandates is undermining the progress of counties that have and endangering the lives of healthcare workers, teachers, employees and everyone else trying to do the right things in those counties. The refusal of so many to issue county mask mandates is now contributing to the rapid, avoidable increase we are now seeing in entirely avoidable school and business closures, diminishing hospital capacity, and avoidable hospitalizations and deaths.  This surge makes it harder for businesses and schools to stay open, it endangers the lives of teachers, parents, families, and employers, and our healthcare workers.

Governor Lee, you are the only one with the power and authority to intervene to ensure the families, healthcare workers, teachers, local businesses, and employees threatened by this outbreak, are instead are protected by a universal, statewide mask mandate that sets the expectation we all have a responsibility to protect not just ourselves but do our part to protect each other.

Please stand with the frontline healthcare workers who risk their lives to care for COVID-19 patients every day.  Help us educate, as well as protect, those who do not understand just how vital universal masking is at this critical time. Help communicate to all Tennesseans that it is out of respect for others, respect for humanity, respect for our great country, respect for our businesses, and respect for the American way of life that mandating mask usage for this specific period in time is essential.  A face covering mandate will not only decrease the number of unnecessary deaths but also allow our businesses and schools to remain open.

- Your name