"Hmmm... could the rapid increase in case volume be greatly reduced with mask mandates and more precautionary recommendations?"

Yes and no. Right now, the biggest problem facing Knoxville residents is the governments attempt and cooperation with people that are denying the masked/vaccinated a safe place to purchase groceries. As a result, if this saturation strategy is truly effective, and since we don't really have any models to go by unless we go back to black death during the dark ages, it makes sense to plan from this perspective. We don't know what sort of immunity alpha is carrying with it. Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is no such thing as true immunity from delta from any source. The vaccine and natural immunity may well lessen the effects of covid, but if that is the end game of our government officials it will likely take years and thousands of deaths to achieve.

Right now, to avoid a total shutdown, whatever that will look like, it is imperative to allow those who are masking and vaccinated safe access to groceries and everyday household needs. While we know that Delta has now achieved a spot in community spread where it is likely impossible to stop, we must also provide the means for those that don't get infected to help those that do. Someone is going to have to run groceries and medicines to those that are sick.

No one knows just what full population saturation will look like. We know that the strategy of unmitigated spread has been instituted and that the mayor continues with his propaganda and misinformation campaign (seriously, monoclonal antibodies are probably the best option we have to avoid a total collapse of our hospital system and to reduce deaths. Has anyone ever seen a weaker endorsement of a communities lifeline to avoid shutdown than the Mayors Friday mention of this treatment?) What we don't know is the percentage of the population that will actually be a part of that number. (I use 33% in my projections and forecasts). It could be 20%. Or 33%. Or 50 or 75%.

We do not know what the public response to monoclonal antibodies will be.Will it get the wide response needed in order to keep the town up and running, or will the anti-mask/anti-vaxxers just view it as another conspiracy theory? We know the Health Department is clearly understaffed, and that the random attempts from Board of Health members and hospitals is likely too little too late, but in a micro sense, we can still save one life at a time, here and there.

I don't think we can stop covid from saturating our population, but I do think those of us that dedicate ourselves to doing what we can to help this community through this time can still make a difference. In that sense mask/vaccine mandates will be vital for the survival of caregivers and necessary to keep our hospitals opening and running.

I believe we are getting ready to witness the darkest period in Knoxville history, a period that could have been mitigated with a appropriate messaging campaign and a solid governmental plan. Instead, Martin Daniel, Glenn Jacobs, Kyle Ward and Justin Biggs unleashed a plan on the community the Jennifer Owen has now identified on the record as criminally negligent. Add to that the likely scenario that what they have wrought is generally viewed as crimes against humanity (depending, of course on whether the outcome goes as predicted or not) and regardless of whether the government officials are charged, tried and convicted, what they've done and how they've done it stands on its own merits.

Masks, vaccines, distancing, cleaning hands will all be vital in reducing hospitalizations and death, but I don't think they're going to stop what's happening.

We've had two weeks of unrestricted spread in schools. Those numbers will begin to show on Tuesday. We had opening night of football, two days for the virus to incubate, and open churches today. Those numbers will start to show up next week. UT is wide open and the Strip is rocking once again.Those number will start coming in next week. Downtown has been open and drawing crowds, and next weekend we look for an additional 100,000 folks or so show up for a football/superspreader event. Frankly I don't see how we avoid a shutdown. It was Glenn Jacobs plan the whole time, and it doesn't appear the citizenry learned any lessons from last year.