As the holiday weekend approaches, Shelby County health officials warn how critical it is to make wise decisions about gatherings. The first is whether to even attend, department director Alisa Haushalter said Tuesday, Sept. 1.

In less than a month, the transmission rate has ticked up from 0.82 on Aug. 7 to 1.02 on Tuesday, a significant gain.

The transmission rate is the number people, on average, one person with COVID-19 infects. At a rate of over 1, the disease is growing in the community again.

With schools back in session, contact sports in play and the three-day Labor Day weekend coming up, officials worry the county could see spikes it saw after the Fourth of July.

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“It’s really critical that we continue our masking. We know from our partnership with the University of Memphis at this current time we have about 96% of people in public places that are masking and masking properly,” said Haushalter, health department director.

“We want to thank everybody for that, but we’re going to need to continue that for some time.”

Besides emphasizing social distancing and hand washing, she asked people to keep the size of gatherings small, and for people with compromised health or over 55, to consider whether they should attend a gathering at all, especially those that will include people they do not see regularly.

“If we to do that, we’ll continue to either stabilize or continue to reduce those numbers over time.”

Besides schools reopening and contact sports, one of the obvious reasons the transmission rate has continued to rise is that people are continuing to have events, she said.

For those attending ballgames and events this weekend, Haushalter suggests taking hand sanitizers and extra masks.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris started off Tuesday’s Memphis and Shelby County Joint COVID-19 Task Force briefing by talking about seniors and residents in nursing homes.

“Over the course of this pandemic, at least 98 reported deaths have come from our long-term care facilities, which are mostly our nursing homes. That represents about 25% of our mortalities overall,” he said.

According to health department figures, 2,442 seniors over 65 have contracted the disease; 327 have died.

Harris has championed the right for seniors in long-term care facilities to be able to have visits from guardians and care providers and has written Gov. Bill Lee asking for permission.

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In the meantime, Harris Tuesday announced $5,000 in funding for Senior Tech Connect, a new county program that will connect long-term care facilities with technology so residents can see their families.

Applications were mailed to long-term care facilities on Monday. For more information, contact cynthianunnally@shelbycountytn.gov.

In addition to nursing homes, Harris also mentioned Shelby County Schools’ first day of virtual learning on Monday, saying it was a “successful first day of school” and that “all of us will have to do what we can to support families.”

He also said Shelby County government opened two virtual learning academies Monday, which will be able to support 40 children of Shelby County employees.

He praised the YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South for partnering with “dozens of businesses and community centers and libraries” to set up virtual learning sites in every corner of Shelby County.

“Thank you for setting aside about a million dollars to support those virtual learning platforms for families across our county,” Harris said.

While the health department is ultimately responsible for investigating outbreaks and deciding who should be isolated and quarantined in schools, the work requires schools’ help.

The health department will offer guidance, Health Director Bruce Randolph said, but the decision whether a classroom or school will be closed is a decision for the school itself to make.

Shelby County has 27,697 COVID-19 cases, an increase of 110 over Monday. Of this number, 2,808 are currently infected. There have been 384 deaths.

Emergency room visits for COVID-19 and hospitalizations continue to trend downward.