Category: Issues

Dead letter. Millington resident Troy Whittington shared a letter the Shelby County Health Department sent to his mother informing her of a positive test for COVID-19 and orders to isolate. But she passed away six months ago, on February 16.

Holiday delay. Cases are falling in Shelby County, but the Health Department wants to wait at least two weeks after Labor Day before relaxing its health directives.

Vaccine plans. The Health Department is making preparations to distribute a vaccine that the CDC says we should expect in late October or early November.

Quick tests. Sometime this month, Shelby County expects to have access to quick, $5 antigen tests purchased by the federal government.

Now for this week’s numbers.

Executive orders. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has extended the state of emergency through September with three executive orders that 1. allow county mayors to maintain mask mandates, 2. allow local governments to continue meeting electronically, and 3. allow for remote notarization of documents.

Going remote. Collierville High School is going to remote learning for two weeks following 5 reported cases.

School reports. The Shelby County Health Department will report cases of COVID-19 by school district but not by individual school.

Media database. The Commercial Appeal is asking parents, teachers and students to contribute reports of cases in individual schools to a database it has created.

Now for this week’s numbers.

In the news this week…

School starts… The bulk of Shelby County’s municipal school districts began their school year on Monday with plenty of uncertainty in the air.

…But for how long? Some state leaders said schools will run into challenges staying open.

School reports. The Shelby County Health Department said it will not release COVID-19 cases in schools.

Childhood trauma. The so-called “secondary effects” of the pandemic continue to rise, with reports of higher instances of depression, mental illness, violence, abuse and neglect.

Wellness checks. The state’s guidance for school districts in discovering and reporting child trauma came under scrutiny, causing the Department of Education to walk it back. But the governor and members of the Child Wellbeing Task Force continued to defend it.

Media access. Local journalists were outraged because Collierville High School denied media access to a football game. Imagine being told you can’t go somewhere or do your job. It turns out such orders can be upsetting. Who would have thought? Welcome to the club, media!

Now for this week’s numbers.

If you have questions for the Shelby County Health Department, this week you can ask them directly.

The department’s director, Dr. Alisa Haushalter, joins me for a virtual town hall on Thursday, August 20, at 6 p.m.

Here are this week’s numbers.

Tripwires. This week the Shelby County Health Department and the COVID-19 Task Force introduced “tripwires” to determine how restrictions will be implemented or lifted.

The full details on the tripwires, as well as new guidance on athletics, is part of Health Directive #10.

Improvement. New cases are trending down at the national, state and local levels for the first time since mid-May.

In addition, the number of current cases is falling in Shelby County, and Tennessee’s current cases have plateaued.

Here are this week’s numbers.