Staffing shortages account for bottlenecks in emergency rooms, and the inability to staff hundreds of vacant hospital rooms.

Leaders of the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association and Mid-South Food Bank talked on “Behind The Headlines” about how the pandemic has changed their distribution models. 

A panel of experts shared their insights on how the pandemic has affected retail, office, industrial and multifamily real estate, and the effects long after COVID-19 is gone.

Vice President Mike Pence called Memphis-born FedEx “a remarkable American company” and said it will be crucial to successful execution of a COVID-19 vaccination program.

Crumbl Cookies’ first shop in Memphis will open early next spring in Williamsburg Village Shopping Center in East Memphis. And more are planned. 

Amazon has quietly started site work atop a hill behind its just-opened fulfillment center at 4055 New Allen Road. The future, 183,000-square-foot facility will be a delivery station that employs about 300.

While selectively adding some elective surgeries, Methodist anticipates it will pause elective procedures again in anticipation for increased COVID-19 cases stemming from the Thanksgiving holiday.

Memphis-based International Paper said Thursday, Dec. 3, it would spin off its printing papers segment and concentrate on growing corrugated packaging, an essential component of e-commerce.

The co-owners of Sonder Luxury Suites not only liked The Citizen’s location and vibe, they loved the built-in customer base living in its 173 apartments. 

People who potentially have been exposed but have no symptoms can return to normal life after 7 days, provided they have a negative test.

New ID card scanners, a computerized tomography baggage scanner and other measures have arrived at Memphis International Airport B Checkpoint as part of TSA’s Stay Healthy, Stay Secure campaign.

The addition continues FedEx’s strategy of serving businesses that compete with e-commerce giant Amazon.

In a recent three-year period, the total number of dollars granted to nonprofits led by people of color in Memphis actually dropped — from 37% to 31%.

Health Department, city leaders and hospitals accessing staffing, looking for more.

Related Story: Health Dept.: Inspectors made multiple visits to All Black Affair

U.S. Dist. Judge Mark Norris has rejected a petition by seven Memphis landlords to temporarily, at least, block a federal ban on evictions. But the full case continues in court. 

Plans are underway to build low-density graduate student housing on Deloach and 500 apartment-style dorms on the Park Avenue Campus.

Six experts in Memphis commercial real estate will offer their take on what’s happening during the pandemic and their forecast on what the post-COVID era will be like.

First, Chance Carlisle dropped his plan for an office tower at One Beale. More recently, he scrapped his plan for a tower that would have housed 150 hotel rooms and 240 apartments and condos. Now, he plans to build a 350-room Grand Hyatt hotel that would double as an extraordinary landmark for Beale Street.

A 40,000-square-foot entertainment and arcade venue called High 5 has signed a letter of intent to be at Liberty Park. And that doesn’t include High 5’s planned, 25,000-square-foot miniature golf course. 

Curtis Givens did not respond to phone calls to his business, CGI Entertainment, or to requests to speak on his Facebook account about the party.

FedEx was expected to handle about 26 million shipments on Cyber Monday, Nov. 30, and more than 24 million shipments a day on Dec. 1, Dec. 7 and Dec. 14. 

On Monday, Nov. 30, Methodist had a record 219 COVID in-patients, up from 183 on Thanksgiving Day. 

On Nov. 27, the benchmark 30-year fixed refinance rate was 3.09%, according to Bankrate.com. The average 15-year fixed refinance rate was 2.52%.

Four months of the COVID-19 pandemic carved $4.2 million out of annual income from the Downtown Memphis Tourism Development Zone. 

Hundreds of thousands of Americans received unemployment benefits when the pandemic shut down businesses, as well as the additional $600 per week stimulus under the CARES Act.