Mask Mandate Extended

 Sumner County Mayor Anthony Holt has extended the mask order through October 30, 2020, for all county buildings including all public schools.

According to the order, all staff as well as students in middle and high school are required to wear face coverings at school.

The mandate ends one day before Halloween, so will likely mean residents are in masks all the way through the month of October!!

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Riley Scores Legal Victory Over Holt

 In the battle over where the Sumner County Republican Assembly is allowed to meet, Kurt Riley and the SCRA scored a legal victory over County Mayor Anthony Holt recently. 

The Hendersonville Standard has more:

“I was not aware that the building was being leased out by the volunteer fire department for use by the public,” she said. “It took me a few days to review our insurance policy on the property you referenced. It is okay for the group to meet there.”

When contacted by a reporter, Dennen said she didn’t know what reason Holt gave for saying the group couldn’t meet at the facility.

While the county owns the building, it has given the volunteer fire department the ability to run it, Dennen noted.

“If the fire department leases the facility out to various groups, I said OK, when you do it for one, you’ve got to do it for anyone that wants to use it,” she added.

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Lee Set to "Re-Open" Tennessee Even as COVID19 Nears Peak

While Sumner County has the third-highest number of Coronavirus cases in Tennessee and the second-highest number of deaths, Gov. Bill Lee today announced plans to "re-open" Tennessee in 89 of 95 counties, including Sumner, by May 1st.

Here's his announcement:

Today, Governor Bill Lee announced the order for Tennesseans to remain at home will expire April 30, with the vast majority of businesses in 89 counties allowed to re-open on May 1.

“Our Economic Recovery Group is working with industry leaders around the clock so that some businesses can open as soon as Monday, April 27,” said Gov. Lee. “These businesses will open according to specific guidance that we will provide in accordance with state and national experts in both medicine and business.”

The Lee Administration will work with Shelby, Madison, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox and Sullivan counties and their health departments as they plan their own re-open strategies.

“While I am not extending the safer at home order past the end of April, we are working directly with our major metropolitan areas to ensure they are in a position to reopen as soon and safely as possible,” said Lee. “Social distancing works, and as we open up our economy it will be more important than ever that we keep social distancing as lives and livelihoods depend on it.”

The Economic Recovery Group (ERG), composed of 30 leaders from the public and private sector is crafting guidance to assist businesses in a safe reopening. The industry representatives participating in the ERG collectively represent over 140,000 Tennessee businesses that employ over 2.5M Tennesseans. More information about ERG is available here.

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Department of Health indicates Sumner County is effectively a COVID-19 hotspot.

It's unclear whether Sumner County leaders, who challenged the Department of Health over the re-opening of Gallatin Healing and Rehab, will take on Gov. Lee and extend a Stay Home order for Sumner County well into May.

Officially, Sumner County Mayor Anthony Holt's "Safer at Home" Order ends on April 23rd.

For more on news impacting Hendersonville and Sumner County, follow @HvilleNews