COVID-19

29 Apr, 2020

Electronic meetings survey: We need your observations!

By |2020-05-09T13:12:54-05:00April 29, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , |0 Comments

Knoxville City Council using Zoom on March 24, 2020. Tennessee Coalition for Open Government is collecting information on how governing bodies have conducted meetings during COVID-19, including electronic meetings. What went well? What didn't? And how can things be improved? Governor Bill Lee on March 20 issued Executive Order No. 16, temporarily suspending the requirement that members of a governing body gather a quorum of members physically present at the same location to conduct business. It allowed governing bodies to instead meet by electronic means in light of the COVID-19 outbreak so long as they provided live access, or a clear audio or video recording afterward. The order expires on [...]

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24 Apr, 2020

After public pressure, state releases nursing home COVID-19 data on website

By |2020-05-09T13:14:56-05:00April 24, 2020|Categories: Public Records|Tags: , |0 Comments

In "Tennessee keeps nursing homes' COVID-19 numbers secret," NC5 investigative reporter Phil Williams presses the Lee administration on why data is being withheld. After multiple weeks of pressure and questions from news media organizations and journalists, the Tennessee Department of Health today began posting on its website COVID-19 infection rates and deaths in nursing homes. Data was released on the state Health Department's COVID-19 website showing reported COVID-19 infection rates and death rates. The health department said it would update the data weekly at 2 p.m. on Fridays. The data will be updated each Friday at 2 p.m. Central Daylight Time, the state said. On Friday, the data showed 44 [...]

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24 Apr, 2020

In-person court proceedings can resume with certain safeguards and approval

By |2020-05-09T13:15:55-05:00April 24, 2020|Categories: Open Courts|Tags: , , |1 Comment

In what seems to be becoming a pattern with big announcements, Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee shared news of the order first on twitter on Friday morning. The order was posted on the court's website a few hours later. The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an order today modifying its earlier suspension of in-person court proceedings, providing a pathway for in-person court proceedings to resume. The court on March 13 declared a state of emergency for the judicial branch of government in Tennessee, and suspended most in-person court proceedings with some exceptions. (The order was updated March 25.) "Since that time, the State of Tennessee and its citizens have made [...]

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30 Mar, 2020

TN County Services Association and TN Municipal League urge maintaining transparency during COVID-19

By |2020-05-09T13:21:55-05:00March 30, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Two of the largest government associations in Tennessee last week issued guidance and suggestions to its members, urging them to maintain government openness and transparency during the COVID-19 crisis. The Tennessee County Services Association and Tennessee Municipal League in its letter explained the Governor's Executive Order. No. 16 allowing for electronic meetings. David Connor, executive director of Tennessee County Services Association. Chad Jenkins, deputy director, Tennessee Municipal League The letter from the government associations encouraged cities and counties "to make every effort to allow the public some way to access the meeting through a live audio or video stream" but if not able to do this, to make sure a [...]

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30 Mar, 2020

Other states outpace Tennessee in COVID-19 data provided to citizens

By |2020-05-09T13:23:02-05:00March 30, 2020|Categories: Public Records|Tags: |0 Comments

Several other states are releasing more information to its citizens than Tennessee about the rapidly spreading COVID-19 virus. For example, several states are releasing on their websites deaths by COVID-19 by county, and others are announcing the city or county location of deaths in press briefings. In contrast, the Tennessee Department of Health has declined to release the number of COVID-19 deaths by county. The state's website with data on COVID-19 in Tennessee. Gov. Bill Lee is also giving 3 p.m. (CDT) daily press briefings, which are streamed live here and remain available on the website. "We are providing numbers of deaths at the state level only due to the [...]

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