During today’s joint COVID-19 Task Force/Shelby County Health Department update, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced micro-loan programs — two of them — to “assist Memphis businesses experiencing hardship.”
When will Memphis reopen and how will that happen? The answers involve the sometimes conflicting perspectives of health, business and political leaders. It will ultimately involve discussions between local and state leaders, with potential input from one significant wild card: President Donald Trump.
The country is shut down, the city and county are shut down. This unyielding novel coronavirus is driving every public and private narrative from Presidential press briefings that sometimes raise as many questions as they answer, to chats with friends and neighbors at least 6 feet apart.
In a pattern repeated over and over across the nation, Memphis and Shelby County’s official response to the initial wave of novel coronavirus appeared confused, even chaotic.There were critical shortages of tests. Far too few health investigators. Substantial delays in test results and daunting challenges getting the public to take social distancing seriously.
Hospitals here are using the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine with the antibiotic azithromycin to treat advanced COVID-19 cases, but with great caution.“I used it a couple of hours ago. We tend to, as you do with any medication, weigh the potential pluses and minuses,” said Dr. Stephen Threlkeld, an infectious disease expert caring for COVID-19 patients… Read More
The local COVID-19 Task Force is developing a comprehensive coronavirus testing strategy to widely expand testing to more under-served areas and vulnerable populations of Shelby County.
In the lull after the surge, expected to end about May 11 here, Shelby County leaders need a plan for how to attack the second wave. “We need a greatly expanded team for identifying cases and contact tracing,” said Dr. Jon McCullers, “that hopefully will allow us to navigate additional waves without shutting down the… Read More
In the lull after the surge, expected to end about May 11 here, Shelby County leaders need a plan for how to attack the second wave.“We need a greatly expanded team for identifying cases and contact tracing,” said Dr. Jon McCullers, “that hopefully will allow us to navigate additional waves without shutting down the economy.”
