The Knox County Advisory Board of Health held an emergency meeting Wednesday, July 28, 2021.

According to the Knox News Sentinel, Dr. Buchanan said,

- there is no "plan to issue any additional pandemic safety regulations despite new federal guidance that masks should be worn indoors in communities where COVID-19 is spreading quickly."

- "At this time, I have concerns about their effectiveness," said Buchanan about whether county residents would ignore new regulations like a mask mandate. "I have concerns about their further decreasing people's willingness to take a vaccine."

- "With all the politicization and polarization, that makes us concerned about doing any further actions,"

"From the first to the fourth week of July, the number of people hospitalized in the Knoxville region increased from 16 to 106, according to Tennessee Hospital Association data. "

Just under 50% of those hospitalized are under 50 years old.

"Governor Bill Lee spoke at the Tennessee Cattlemen's Association Convention in Sevierville about several different topics on Friday.

"COVID is here to stay. We have a managed health issue to address just like many health issues in the state," he said. "Case counts will ebb and flow ... People understand the risks associated with it, and that they have personal responsibility decisions to make."

Lee said he does not plan to institute any new COVID-19 restrictions to prevent cases from rising after the state reported more than 2,000 new cases."

Although, "he signed Executive Order 82 which extends a "limited state of emergency" in the state until Aug. 31.

He specifically said that Executive Order 82 allows the state to continue receiving additional federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It also allows additional funding from the federal government to be used in National Guard and State Guard COVID-19 response efforts."

So, it's here to stay, a managed health issue. But we need more federal funds to manage this health issue. What won't he do for more federal funds. Then he won't tell his constituents to get a vaccine and act appropriately for this to, hopefully, go away like polio, small pox, etc.

During the period beginning at 12:01 am on Friday, July 30, 2021 and ending Thursday, August 5, 2021 at 11:59 pm, food, food ingredients, and prepared foods are exempt from sales tax. This includes qualified sales of prepared food by restaurants, food trucks, caterers, and grocery stores.

Sales of alcoholic beverages are not included in items exempt during this period.

During this time clothing, school supplies and computers may be purchased tax-free. Certain restrictions apply. Items sold online are also eligible. Items must be purchase for personal use, not for business or trade.

Check your receipts. Some systems may not have gotten updated.

Tennessee anti-vax 'movement' featured in a PBS segment

(link...)

My opponent, Tim Burchett, is among 228 Republican legislators who have joined a "friend of the court" brief favoring Mississippi's case asking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

My position on abortion rights is clear--trust women, and do not impose any level of government between women and their care givers and their choices. If this anti-woman effort is successful, it will not eliminate abortion. It will just eliminate safe and legal abortion, leaving that option only to the wealthy.

It is time for the pro-choice majority in Tennessee to rally to candidates like me--to defeat threats like Tim Burchett.

Both our US Senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, also have signed this brief rolling back women's rights--as have US House members Chuck Fleischmann, Mark Green, Diana Harshbarger, and John Rose.

John Lennon

"Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead
What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love
What on earth you tryin' to do
It's up to you, yeah you"
...

Auburn University is giving away scholarships, unlimited meal plan upgrades, priority class registration and other perks to encourage students to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

One of the top prizes is an A-zone parking pass for the semester, which are usually for school employees. Students could also win $1,000 scholarships, VIP graduation parking passes and a chance to have lunch with Auburn President Jay Gogue.

Auburn University giving $1,000 scholarships, prime parking and other prizes to fully-vaccinated students

The Mrs. was going through some old business files and found these tri-fold brochures. The first one was from our first company. The second one was from our second company (later renamed to be more specific to what we were doing) that we eventually retired from. The product had to be renamed because of a cease and desist order over trademark. We designed and wrote all this marketing fluff, along with the software that went with it. (Click images for bigger.)

As of 7/28/2021,

since the inception of COVID-19, approx. 1/23/2020...

the Knox County Health Department reports 43,441 coronavirus cases and 8,883 probable cases.

There have been 655 deaths due to coronavirus in Knox County.
That is up from 650 total deaths reported as of July 14, 2021. 5 deaths in 2 weeks.

Deaths by age group:

15 in the 18-44 age group (2%) (increase of 0.7% since 7/14/21)
104 in the 45-64 age group (16%) (increase of 3% since 7/14/21)
148 in the 65-74 age group (23%) (increase of 0.6% since 7/14/21)
388 in the 75+ age group (59%) (no change since 7/14/21)

As of 7/27/2021, there are 124 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in the Knox County region (up from 43 as of 7/13/2021), 32 in ICU (up from 11 as of 7/13/2021). Hospitalizations up from a low of 21 on 7/4/21 and has been rising since.

As of July 27, 2021, ICU bed available capacity is at 6.6%, with 317 total available ICU beds.

As of July 27, 2021, the TN Dept of Health reports the average positivity rate over the past 7 days is 12.5%, up from 5.6% on 7/14/2021.

Vaccinations reported, last updated 7/27/2021:
% with 2 doses - 46.14% (up from 45.42% on 7/14/2021)
% with at least 1 dose - 50.22% (up from 49.09% on 7/14/2021)

Unlike so many government officials in Tennessee who have made it clear that under no circumstances will they issue any new COVID restrictions, there are government and private entities across the country starting to require COVID-19 vaccines of their employees.

The Houston Methodist Hospital may have begun the trend. They required vaccines of their employees and won the lawsuit to allow the requirement. Then there was Indiana University's requirement for "students and staff must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they qualify for a medical, religious or ethical exemption, or unless a student is attending a fully online program." They won their lawsuit as well.

Vanderbilt University requires all faculty, staff postdoctoral fellows, new and returning students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 for the 2021–22 academic school year. "St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis is now requiring employees to get vaccinated against coronavirus or be terminated."

The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday became the first major federal agency to require health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines

"New York City will require teachers, police officers and the rest of the 340,000 city employees to get coronavirus vaccines by mid-September or face weekly testing..." "California became the first state in the country to unveil a vaccine verification program Monday for all state and health care employees, requiring evidence of vaccination from employees by Aug. 2 or mandatory testing..."

"A group that represents nearly 500 bars in San Francisco said on Monday that customers will be required to show proof of vaccination or a recent COVID-19 test showing a negative result in order to drink inside."

It goes on and on. We can be thankful to those that take this pandemic seriously. We can be angry or sad about those that don't.

"I feel it is important I make it clear that under no circumstances will I issue any new COVID restrictions.” WVLT reports...

RELATED: Knox County COVID-19 cases double in one week

Does anyone know if Knoxville has a certified community kitchen for use by individuals wishing to prepare foods for home delivery or sale in farmers' markets? I believe this is a common 'economic development' feature in some other cities.

They installed roads and greenways, helping connect the city's 50 miles of trails leading to a nature center, lakes, historic sites, playgrounds and a wildlife area. They also installed lighting and utility systems to improve the trails.

Knoxville leaders celebrate finishing first phase of Urban Wilderness Gateway Park with ribbon-cutting ceremony

As of June, 86 percent of Democrats had received at least one dose, compared with 52 percent of Republicans. All the states with the lowest levels of vaccination — Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Wyoming and Louisiana — voted heavily for Donald Trump. Barely half of Republican House members report being vaccinated.

GOP dumb as dirt. But then they did elect the previous president, T.

"Florida reports highest daily COVID-19 cases since January"

Florida on Wednesday reported 12,647 new cases of COVID-19, the highest daily number of cases since late January, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The last time that Florida topped this number was Jan. 30, when it logged 14,654 cases. The U.S. registered 55,132 cases on Wednesday, meaning that Florida’s daily count made up about 23 percent of new cases reported by the CDC for that day.

Dumb as dirt. Bob Graham is probably gnashing his teeth. Lawton Chiles is rolling in his grave.

HUD Fair Market Rent lookup

FY2021 Final Fair Market Rents Documentation System

Bezos is scheduled to take flight this morning, Tuesday, July 20, 2021.

Same-day delivery: Amazon's Jeff Bezos set to make history with suborbital spaceflight.

"Weather permitting, Bezos is scheduled to launch Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET from a site in the West Texas desert southeast of El Paso. Blue Origin will stream the event live on its website beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET."

Ms. "Wally Funk, 82, a former test pilot who was one of the Mercury 13 women who underwent training in the 1960s to demonstrate that women could qualify for NASA's astronaut corps. Funk would be the oldest person to reach space."

59.3% of adults in the U.S. are fully vaccinated.
47.7% of adults in Tennessee are fully vaccinated.
57.1% of adults in Florida are fully vaccinated.
70.9% - 77% of adults are fully vaccinated in 5 states (Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, and Rhode Island).

Tennessee has the highest percentage increase of new cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days at + 340%. Arkansas has the highest count of new cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days. Florida has the highest daily average of new cases in the past 7 days at 6,493.

And while rates are spiking nationwide -- up about 70% over the last week -- Florida’s rise is among the worst.

“Just four states accounted for more than 40% of all cases in the past week, with 1 in 5 of all cases occurring in Florida alone,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters during a briefing Friday.

"Jacksonville, Florida, COVID-19 cases almost doubled in 1 week." "The growth in cases has risen for four weeks in a row and is now at levels not seen since winter." Duval County, FL, "saw 4,428 new cases in the last seven days -- a 21.9% positivity rate." Baker, Bradford, Nassau, Putnam and Union counties’ positivity rates are even higher." "The state’s rate of positive tests rose to 11.5% from 7.8% the week before."

It just goes on and on around the country. Los Angeles has reinstated a mask requirement. Hospitals are filling up again. If only there was something we could do? Oh, yeah, get a vaccine! Stop drinking the conservative right kool-aid. Get a vaccine! Don't go to Florida. Get a vaccine!

There is no state, county or city in the country where a full-time, minimum-wage worker working 40 hours a week can afford a two-bedroom rental, a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition showed.

A full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a one-bedroom rental in only 7% of all US counties — 218 counties out of more than 3,000 nationwide.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25.

But the report showed that a worker would need to earn $24.90 per hour in order to afford a two-bedroom home at Fair Market Rent. And a $20.40 "housing wage" would be needed for a one-bedroom. Fair Market Rents are government estimates of what a person should expect to pay for a modest home in their area.

Minimum wage workers can't afford rent anywhere in America

Tennessee doctors want investigation into state's handling of pandemic