(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
Suffice it to say, this event in which we are engulfed, by whatever name you may affix to it is a moving target. Dr. Manoj K. Jain had some meaningful words, “The virus strain has changed, more infectious, not more lethal … “342 hospitalizations: What is indisputable is hospitalizations.” During the meeting there were more questions from mayors than any Joint Task Force meeting prior.
There was noticeable frustration over testing during the meeting: the general public is confused on retesting and unnecessary testing seems to be part of the issue. SCHD (Shelby County Health Department) needs to clear up messaging. Also, the “surge” in positive test results are representative of a backlog (specimens over many dates) per SCHD. Mortality rates continue to decline.
Dr. Ted Horrell, Lakeland School System superintendent, spoke on behalf of municipal schools, still maintaining the Aug. 10th opening. July 15th is the goal to release information.
Notes from today:
– Shelby County with 12,165 cases, 200 deaths, 1.6% mortality, and 8.5% positivity rate.
– R naught still hovering around 1.12
– Acute Care and ICU status Yellow
– Test sites continue to be highly utilized
– Middle portion of the county highest case rates
– When an individual has a confirmed case and is quarantined, it must be 14 days SCHD
– The positivity rate is calculated based on the day of its collection
– A lot of conversation on testing. Capacity of the labs is an issue. They are catching up
– Move toward broader communication strategy
– Commended on our quarantine effort from CDC official
– Under 12 prohibited to be required to wear masks
– The care for COVID-19 patients is quite standardized
– SCS (Shelby County Schools) reentry plan in person or virtual Aug. 31st. Face masks required for all.
– Still pretty large disparity in Latino communities
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: 7,439; total calls yesterday: 92. SCHD website with more data: www.shelbytnhealth.com/COVID19Data
The most recent numbers for the state are: 52,155 total cases (+724); 31,020 recovered (+766); 653 deaths (+7) 2,897 hospitalized (+26); and 904,237 tested (+8,441). 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/
