Gov. Bill Lee touted Tennessee’s COVID-19 testing program Thursday, saying the state’s ability to quickly identify positive cases through expanded testing enables people to quarantine quickly.

“This is how we are able to reboot our economy and get people back to work,” the governor said.

Lee pointed out a Harvard study found seven states are testing enough to open their economies and Tennessee was one of them. The state tested 2% of its population in April and 3% in the month of May so far.

Testing has been done in all prisons, veterans homes and is being conducted in all nursing homes, he said.

Testing has been completed in 45% of 700 nursing homes statewide, and the state’s goal is to finish them up by the end of May. The governor said the state is working on rules to deal with facilities that don’t wrap up testing in time.

The Tennessee Department of Human Services is expanding support for all essential workers, making them all eligible for COVID-10 childcare support, according to the governor. They will be able to receive help through August.

The state will continue a partnership with PBS to provide TV learning to students in grades 1-6 from 10 a.m. until noon. In addition, childcare is available to qualifying parents through September in cooperation with the governor’s foundation.

The governor said the Attorney General’s Office has filed a request for the Tennessee Supreme Court to look at the state’s Education Savings Account case and lift an order prohibiting the state from moving forward with the program while the case is on appeal.

Gov. Lee said he signed an executive order Thursday allowing groups of 50 to participate in social and recreational activity. But he continued to point toward the importance of social distancing as people gather. The order includes Shelby County and five other counties with health departments independent of the state.

Bars and similar businesses will be allowed to open as long as they are using protocol consistent with state guidelines.

Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Jeff McCord said the state has gone from 50,000 to 22,000 unfilled unemployment claims in the last week. The department is training more people to handle difficult cases and should be up to 145 case experts soon.