Paris, Tenn.–With the announcement that Gov. Bill Lee granted local authority to each county to declare mask mandates, Henry Countians are wondering what requirements will be made for them as cases of COIVD-19 continue to spike across the state and West Tennessee. Local officials have decided that a mask mandate will not be required in Henry County.
On a conference call Monday, members of Paris and Henry County government and the medical community discussed Gov. Lee’s executive orders from July 3 and what circumstances would create the need for Paris and Henry County for required masking to be ordered.
All agreed at this time, if the community continues to follow social distancing, good hand washing hygiene, gatherings only in small groups, and wearing masks where appropriate, a mask mandate will not be a necessity for our community.
“It is so important that our community continue to adhere to masking if possible, washing hands frequently, and social distancing at least six feet as much as possible,” said Henry County Medical Center CEO Lisa Casteel. “We have done well in our county, doing our part to make sure that our healthcare system has not been overwhelmed. But, the threat is not over and we need to not give up these practices to ensure that we continue to stay healthy and avoid having to require masking like Jackson, Nashville, Memphis, Gatlinburg, and other locations across the state. It truly is about ‘what’s in the numbers’ and us continuing to monitor them.”
Henry County did see a spike in cases going into the holiday weekend, but the curve has gone down this week. As of July 8, there were 47 positive cases in Henry County, with 39 of those cases recovered.
The city, county, and medical community are reviewing the EpiCurve information available on the TN Dept. of Health website to determine when a mandate should occur. It is available at h”ps://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov/data/epi-curves.html.
As of July 8, Henry County is below the threshold average of new cases per day for the state.