In reply to your email

Last week, I started receiving emails from some of our local democrats. All were signed with the writer's address. Apparently, they all belong to a left wing organization called everyactionadvocacy.com. The emails were sent through that organization.
Unfortunately, I couldn't reply directly to those who sent the emails. So, I figured I'd send it from my web site to be sure they got my reply. There were two different letters, both pretty stupid.

Below is their letter to me and my reply.

Dear Commissioner Van Shaver,

Could you tell me, please, how you lie down and sleep at night? All across our state, the citizens under your care are fearful and suffering because of your failure to take more than cursory steps to protect them from this pandemic. Your approach has been an exercise in shifting responsibility and decisions to local governments, most of whom are as unwilling and unable as you to take strong, science based actions. You shut down the state as briefly as possible, reopened when cases had not declined , but were actually rising. Your refusal to mandate masks is pure sycophancy, catering to the most ignorant among us. These actions have already cost lives.

Forcing our underfunded and ill-prepared schools to reopen assures us of the rapid onset of a devastating second wave, before the first had even stabilized. Parents, teachers, children, bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers, as well as all their families, will be thrust into immediate peril.

All this in aid of preserving the economy. Perhaps it does not occur to you that the frightened, ill and dead are disinclined to shop or dine out. To be fair, you will be giving a great boost to mortuaries and crematoriums.

Gov. Lee cannot continue dumping all the responsibility of fighting a global pandemic on our teachers, parents, local employees, businesses and mayors and Tennesseans can’t do their job until he does his to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Gov. Lee has claimed he is pursuing a ‘targeted approach’ but the results speak for themselves: it simply isn't working. Since rushing to reopen the state against the warnings of health excerpts Tennessee has seen skyrocketing, avoidable, increases in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Gov. Lee must get the coronavirus under control and that begins with a mask mandate and delaying in-person classes to give that mandate time to work. If we want our schools to reopen safely and the economy to grow, Tennessee needs a statewide virus containment strategy rather than leaving parents, mayors and school boards to figure it out on their own. Gov. Lee's current approach, passing the buck, is failing and endangers the health and wellbeing of Tennesseans.

Tennessee health experts were right about the stay-at-home order. It worked and slowed the spread of COVID-19 and bought the state valuable time to address this crisis. But instead of using that time to get things under control like many other states, Gov. Lee rushed to reopen without a plan to slow the spread of the virus, and now things are worse.

Science, not politics, should lead decision-making. Here’s what our health care professionals and medical experts are calling for:

(1) 14 days of low incidence and stability. Schools should not open unless there are fewer than 10 new cases per 100,000 persons per day for at least 14 days in a row. There must be low incidence AND stability. A major challenge is the silent spread of COVID-19 through populations. The virus can be transmitted in the 2-3 days before symptoms begin (the presymptomatic window) and can be spread even by infected persons who never develop symptoms at all (asymptomatic people). This is not a pandemic that can be controlled simply by isolating symptomatic people.

(2) Issue a statewide mask requirement. The science overwhelmingly supports mask mandates as an effective tool to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Patchwork mask mandates won’t achieve the reductions we need to get COVID under control. We have laws against speeding and drunk driving because it endangers the lives of others. Refusing to wear masks in this pandemic endangers others.

(3) Expanded contact tracing and regular reporting to inform reopening. Parents and employees need to know that people coming in contact with COVID are isolating and not endangering children, teachers or families.

(4) Ensure rapid and regular testing. A test today only shows whether you are infected today, and that does nothing to determine whether you get infected tomorrow. If test results fall days or weeks behind, then people may not take isolation seriously and contact tracers will fall further behind the virus.

(5) Penalize bad actors who endanger others. Whether it’s a business owner who is cutting corners or someone who refuses to wear a mask in public, government has a duty to protect our families from those who would irresponsibly do us harm — intentionally or not. Parents and workers need to know that people are required to wear masks and keep 6 feet apart or face penalties for endangering their children, other staff and their families.

We cannot rush reopening our schools and expect a different result than what happened when we rushed to reopen businesses without a plan to contain the virus.

If we do not get COVID under control, our state will spiral further out of control to where the only options we will have left will be choosing between another state shut down, or simply accepting thousands of more, completely AVOIDABLE hospitalizations and deaths among our children, parents, teachers and their families.

I appreciate your information. However, it appears all your positions rest entirely on the premise that the information, on all aspects of the Chinese Corona Virus, given by the media and some government officials is true. Unfortunately, it is not.

There is a multitude of legitimate information available that contradicts most of the information about the Chinese Corona Virus being discriminated by the media. Story after story of tests numbers, positive tests and death counts being manipulated to show much higher numbers than are even possible.

Only if you are willing to believe all the fake news, can you come to the conclusion that massive restrictions on our personal freedoms should be enacted. But do you seriously believe local law enforcement should be tasked with enforcement of social distancing and mask wearing? That's just beyond absurd. There's an enormous amount of information available that show masks do very little to nothing to stop the spread. Please, do some independent research on the matter.

As to our schools, no child is being forced to attend school. Every student has the remote option. Thus far, around 4,000 have registered for in person education and around 800 have registered for remote. These numbers would put your views in the very small minority in Loudon County. The board of education has the sole authority to make decisions on behalf of our school system, not county commission. You should make your concerns know to them also.

There will never be a vaccine for the Chinese Corona Virus. There has never been a vaccine for a virus. So under your position, life could never return to normal. Is the Chinese Corona Virus real? absolutely. There will be some who will suffer more than others and some will even die but that's no different than the common flu that strikes our country every year. Thus far, Loudon County has had 3 confirmed deaths from the Chinese Corona Virus. That's fewer deaths than have occurred by accidents in the same time period.

There is no denying that a large component of the Chinese Corona Virus hysteria is politically motivated to impact the presidential election. I do believe it will, in a very positive way for our country.

I myself am at high risk for the virus. I'm have coronary artery disease, quadruple bypass and multiple stents. You ask what am I doing to stop the rush to reopen? Taking minimal precautions and living my life.

I fully respect your opinion and your right to express it. I would hope you would also respect others opinions who differ from yours and their right to express those.