(Editor’s note: Lakeland Commissioner Wesley Wright “sits in” for the Tuesday/Friday briefings of the City of Memphis Shelby County Joint COVID Task Force, mayors from throughout Shelby County and administrative and elected officials from the region. His report is below.)
By Lakeland Commissioner Wesley Wright
Once again, (Dr.) Ted Horrell (Lakeland School System – LSS) superintendent) spoke on behalf of the municipal schools during a Joint Task Force meeting. The Governors extension does not impact reopening plans at this time.
The number of cases have gone up 200 to 300 per day, but no steep rise in hospitalizations. This may be due to the age groups testing positive but not experiencing severe cases. That should be in line with the understanding on morbidity rates per age group we have covered for several months. The meeting wasn’t sensationalizing the data, just practical. As always, stay tuned
Notes from today:
– Shelby County with 9,904 cases, 185 deaths, 1.9% mortality, and 7.8% positivity rate.
– Municipal schools still refining and updating plans. Tennessee Department of Education set out requirements to each municipal school system.
– Emphasis from Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) on compliance during quarantine
– R naught still hovering around 1.12
– Acute care and ICU status Yellow
– Increase in the 4%-6% range increase in ER visits the new norm
– Federal authorities visiting the metros in Tennessee such as Memphis and Nashville (HHS).
– Stronger messages forthcoming from SCHD to higher risk populations
– SCHD Interventions need to be more focused and need based
– Masking data needs to be put out there
– 2 areas of testing asymptomatic and antibody both helpful. Antibody Test: 8% to 10% of population would test positive, it’s a blood test
– Dr. Jeff Warren: 3 to 4 weeks away from Texas and Florida numbers if we don’t act.
– Mayor Keith McDonald “galvanizing around a common goal” ? Messaging isn’t in concert. R naught may be a good alignment
– Mayor Stan Joyner asks per zip code map to be reproduced again
– Multi-generational households are problematic. That’s what has hurt Italy so dramatically
– SCHD watching Houston
– If you have those underlying conditions even if you are under control you are at risk
– School Notes: SCS distribution of devices at 5 locations. SCS trying to give options to families to come in or remote. Probably not all children will have devices by August 10th. Dr. Horrell said all school systems in Shelby County plan to open August 10th.
– Trending a little higher in the Hispanic populations across the state
– 2 critical stats have been monitored during “Back to Business” phasing in: #1 Daily case rates and #2 ICU utilization by COVID-19 positives
The Health Department’s hotline number is 833-943-1658 and is answered daily from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After-hours calls are returned on the next business day. Total calls received since the line was activated March 12th: 6,866; total calls yesterday: 15.
SCHD website with more data: www.shelbytnhealth.com/COVID19Data
The most recent numbers for the state are: 42,297 total cases (+2,125); 26,962 recovered (+803); 592 deaths (+8); 2,599 hospitalized (+35); and 776,858 tested (+28,629).
TDH website: https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov.html
COViD-19 data from Shelby County, Metro Memphis and Tennessee from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC): https://uthsc.edu/coronavirus/local-data/
