Officials share concerns about reopening, urge residents to wear face coverings

JACKSON, Tenn. — Local officials say they still have concerns with starting the first phase of the city’s economic recovery plan.

“We are a little hesitant about rolling into phase one,” said Kim Tedford, director of Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department.

That’s what Tedford said Thursday when we asked her opinion on starting the city’s plan.

“What was concerning is the number of people who are asymptomatic, showing no signs or symptoms,” Tedford said. “These people were going about their life as normal because they weren’t feeling sick. They weren’t having symptoms. So you don’t know how many people these people came in contact with.”

Of the 21 Madison County residents who have so far tested positive from last weekend’s drive-thru testing, 11 had no signs or symptoms, and 17 didn’t know where they got the virus.

But Jackson Mayor Scott Conger says he’s not using that data in the decision to start the economic recovery plan, calling this weekend’s testing an “anomaly”.

“We knew there was going to be an increase in numbers,” Conger said. “We we weren’t going to test 1,400 people and no one test positive. We can’t punish ourselves and punish business owners and punish our economy for something we did well.”

But he and Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris still say they are also hesitant.

“Every single day, every single morning, we’re in uncharted water,” Conger said.

“It is a risk,” Harris said. “But it’s like when we made the decision to tighten things up and put on restrictions. It was a calculated risk we needed to do for the health of our people.”

These officials are also encouraging people that when businesses do reopen, you need to wear face masks, and Mayor Harris says businesses have the right to turn you away if you don’t.

“We made that decision for the courthouse. I hope businesses strongly consider doing that for their business,” Harris said.

Your face coverings don’t have to be surgical masks. The CDC says they just need to be some sort of face covering, from t-shirts to bandanas.