Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has extended phase two of the city’s reopening through June 16. Shelby County has been unable to maintain a steady number of new coronavirus cases since entering phase two of the back-to-business plan. And, between the social interactivity from Memorial Day and recent protests, it is unlikely the numbers will improve… Read More
Mayor Jim Strickland wants to begin testing as many as 30,000 people a day for the coronavirus, starting with a pilot program for municipal workers in early June, to protect the city when school starts and flu season rolls in a few months later.
The first day of school in August 2019 would flunk 2020’s course on social distancing: teachers and students high-fiving, packed close and bent down to elementary schooler eye level, sharing big smiles and welcoming students back to the classroom before an assembly in the cafeteria where students barely left 6 inches of space between one… Read More
As we continue to move through the coronavirus pandemic, Memorial Day weekend saw some parts of the country rush back to beaches and water parks. Here in the Mid-South we went out to local parks and, for the most part, saw people keeping their distance and wearing their masks.
When Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced the local back-to-business plan on April 27, he identified “flat or decreasing hospitalizations” as one of the keys to move from one phase to the next.
To wear a mask or not to wear one. It’s developed into one of the enduring debates of the COVID-19 pandemic. And in the eyes of many, it’s more a matter of motive than need that drives the debate.
The decision to start reopening the local economy wasn’t a simple formula, based on a couple of public health data points. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, and their advisors weighed positivity rates, replication rates, hospital capacity, and a host of other health statistics. As Strickland told the Memphis Business Journal last… Read More
With back-to-business plans in order, leaders are looking to the complicated issue of reopening schools. New plans will consider the school calendar, how students get to school and how much school work will be done outside the classroom. Knowing when and how to bring kids back into classrooms is complex.
