Mayor Kincannon declares State Of Emergency


KNOXVILLE - Mayor Indya Kincannon has declared a State of Emergency for the City of Knoxville. The Mayor says she is enacting a provision in the City’s charter to give the City the flexibility to take further legal and budgetary action in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“By declaring a State of Emergency we can make decisions more quickly, in essence speeding up help and supplies to those who need it most,” said Mayor Kincannon. “This has never been necessary in recent history, but we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to keep the people of Knoxville safe.”

Today the Mayor also announced, in an effort to protect the most vulnerable during this pandemic, she is working in collaboration with the Knox County Health Department and Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs to close all senior centers by the end of the day.

In addition to the above measures, the City of Knoxville has been in contact with Downtown and Old City bar owners who have decided to cancel their St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl.

Mayor Kincannon said, “I appreciate the tough decisions being made in the name of public health. We must focus on the safety of our bar and restaurant workers as well as patrons to those establishments.”

The Mayor has issued the following recommendations for food and drink establishments:

• Encourage all restaurants to utilize takeout and delivery services.
• Limit seating to 50 percent of capacity.
• Separate occupied tables by at least six feet.

At the time of this release the Knoxville-Knox County Emergency Operations Center is partially activated. The City of Knoxville, the Knox County Health Department and Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, along with countless social service agencies, are working together during this crisis.

For more guidance you may visit www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov.

Please keep in mind, this is a rapidly changing situation that could likely demand further action.

Published March 16, 2020