Sen. Yarbro warns against setting an ‘artificial deadline’ for re-opening businesses

NASHVILLE — Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville), the minority leader in the Senate, pushed back today on Gov. Bill Lee’s plan to start re-opening Tennessee’s economy by an arbitrary date in May.

Sen. Yarbro’s statement is included below:

Gov. Lee announced an extension of his stay-at-home order through April 30. Based on data from Vanderbilt and others, that’s necessary.

He also spoke of plans to re-open Tennessee’s economy in early May. We should be careful this isn’t an artificial deadline. Re-open the economy when there’s sufficient capacity to do it safely. The sooner, the better.

But let’s rush towards having a test and trace strategy, to having sufficient hospital capacity, to having guidance for sectors and communities, to having a plan for resurgences.

Let’s not rush towards a date, but towards a goal.

Editor’s note: Sen. Yarbro’s tweets were edited for clarity.