Ready, Set, FEMA CAMPS!
On Friday, August 6, 2021, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed Executive Order 83, which authorizes the Tennessee Emergency Management Plan (TEMA) to issue "involuntary commitment" via “telephone assessments,” to “temporary quarantine and isolation facilities” of "person with a mental illness or serious emotional disturbance."
First, what do "mental illness" and serious emotional disturbance" mean?
Pursuant to 33-1-101“Mental illness” means a psychiatric disorder, alcohol dependence, or drug dependence..." and “Serious emotional disturbance” means a condition in a child who currently or at any time during the past year has had a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder..."
Sounds a little too important to be assessed over the telephone by TEMA.
One might say, the TN Executive Order is all about bypassing the regulations surrounding licensing healthcare professionals, as well as, all of the regulations for constructing temporary facilities if the hospitals are overrun and allow for telemedicine to assess patients with mental illness and serious emotional disturbance.
Nothing to see here, right?
However, place this next to a CDC document published in July 2020: "Interim Operational Considerations for Implementing the Shielding Approach to Prevent COVID-19 Infections in Humanitarian Settings" that reveals a plan to isolate high-risk people (mental illness and serious emotional disturbance) in camps or community settings for an indefinite amount of time, but at least six months. Do you trust the National Guard (via TEMA) to assess any person over the phone for a mental illness or a child for serious emotional disturbance and based on that assessment, place them in involuntary "temporary quarantine and isolation?"
Why does this need to be addressed in the Executive Order "to facilitate the continued response to COVID-19?" along with activating the National Guard (TEMA) and building healthcare institutions without any restrictions to building code and bed count for a virus with 99.7% survival rate AND with the effective treatment of off-label drugs?
