Governor Bill Lee addressed Tennesseans Thursday afternoon in his Covid-19 briefing. Lee highlighted how well Tennessee has fared throughout the Coronavirus pandemic compared to other states. According to Lee, other governors have reached out to him to tell him that he is in an enviable position because of the testing in Tennessee and the response of Tennesseans.

“400,000 tests have been administered in the state,” the governor said. “That means that 6% of our population has stepped forward an asked for a test.”

The original goal was for Tennessee to be able to test 2% of the population.

Lee also pointed at numbers such as 1.5 million pieces of PPE have been distributed across the state. He said that the reason Tennessee has progressed so quickly is because of Tennesseans ability and willingness to get tested, but he doesn’t want citizens to become complacent and stop following guidelines and getting tests.

“That (testing) has to continue. So we encourage Tennesseans when in doubt, get a test,” Lee added.

Free testing is available in every county by the local health departments.