Monday, April 13, 2020— Today, Gov. Bill Lee announced that the “Safer At Home” mandate will be extended through April 30th, with plans to phase in a re-opening of the economy afterwards.
The administration also announced they expect tests to become more widely available within the coming weeks.
Today, Governor Bill Lee provided an update on Tennessee’s efforts regarding COVID-19 relief.
Gov. Lee’s daily press conferences can be viewed live this week Monday through Thursday at 3 p.m. CDT here. Gov. Lee has also established a website specific to COVID-19 updates which can be found here.
Key Updates
Education – Virtual Learning
The Department of Education has established a partnership with PBS stations across the state to offer first through eighth-grade students up to 30 hours of instructional lessons a week. This instruction is made possible by Tennessee teachers teaching with Tennessee curriculum. More information, broadcast schedules, student and teacher packets and access past shows is available here.
The state has also worked to ensure there is support for early literacy through a partnership with an early education app, ReadyRosie, which provides short videos and free resources on topics like literacy and math for Tennessee families with children from birth to third grade. Additional information can be found here.
With the passage of the federal funding through the CARES Act, the Department is preparing to deploy one-time relief funds to school districts as soon as the funding becomes available. Federal funds will support meal preparation and distribution, extended learning opportunities for all students, internet and hardware accessibility and address student needs related to homeless and high mobility populations.
Partnership with Nextdoor
Tennessee is partnering with Nextdoor to provide official, real-time information to the Tennesseans about the state’s response to COVID-19.
The partnership will allow us to reach thousands of neighborhoods with critical information during this unprecedented time.
All Tennessee neighbors on Nextdoor will automatically receive messages. If you’re not on Nextdoor, but interested in joining your Nextdoor neighborhood, you can visit nextdoor.com to download the free app.