April 7, 2020

FROM NEWSCHANNEL 9

MARION COUNTY, Tenn. — Marion County Mayor David Jackson has announced a county-wide curfew will soon go into effect in an effort to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

Jackson tells us that during a conference call with city mayors Monday, they decided upon a 15-day county curfew to fight the ongoing spread of COVID-19 in the county.
Jackson says the curfew will begin at 8 p.m. CT on Wednesday, April 8 and end at 5:30 a.m. the following morning. The curfew period will continue until 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 23.

The mayor says employers are encouraged to provide employees with letterhead letters stating that the employee works during the curfew time if applicable. Businesses are also encouraged to end operations earlier in order to give employees time to get home for the day.

Mayor Jackson says in the video that this curfew is not meant to lock down the county, but help cut down activity in several areas where gatherings have been happening.

He tells NewsChannel 9 that they understand people have to work, and that they’re not going to be stopping every car that goes down the road, but they are trying to eliminate unnecessary travel or gathering in the county.

“I will tell you that this is something that we as mayors have discussed for the past two weeks, the possibility,” says Jackson in the video, “But we’ve been very reluctant to do this, because we understand we live in the United States, and we have our freedoms. But folks, we’ve got to do something to help curb the spread of this COVID-19. We think this is the best way to go.”
Mayor Jackson tells us all city mayors have to sign the curfew order, and that not all have done so yet.

Jackson says the county has a little over 28,000 residents and has confirmed at least 23 cases of the coronavirus so far.

As of Tuesday, April 7, the Tennessee Department of Health has confirmed at least one Marion County death related to the virus.