The Shelby County Health Department expects all public schools and others under the Americans with Disabilities Act to mask, according to a memo sent to public and private school leaders Friday afternoon.

Lawyers for disabled students invited doctors to testify virtually to the U.S. District Court in Nashville to support their argument that a new Tennessee law violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Doses of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson will be offered.

Gov. Bill Lee tweeted at 8:30 this morning he would not renew Tennessee’s state of emergency after it expires tonight.

The move to expand comes as new COVID-19 cases have climbed steadily over the last two weeks, especially in states where colder weather is driving people indoors.

Active cases have increased in every age group except those older than 85, one week ahead of Thanksgiving.

Watch the COVID-19 Task Force Briefing live now. 

The university clarified that a September executive order from the Biden administration requiring vaccinations for federal contractors would apply to the university.

On March 26, 2020, 20 days after his retirement party, Kenneth Bradshaw died. He was 64. Now a summer camp scholarship will honor his memory. 

Shelby County schools will vaccinate about 1,000 of its students between the ages of 5 and 11 at the Board of Education this Friday and Saturday, according to the district. 

Germantown Municipal School District reverses course, returns to masking Tuesday. 

Gov. Bill Lee was in East Memphis for a local political fundraiser Friday, just before signing five new laws from a special session of the Tennessee Legislature and allowing a sixth bill to become law without his signature. 

Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland and Millington cited COVID-19 legislation signed by Gov. Bill Lee that removes schools’ ability to require face coverings

Schools throughout Shelby County will likely continue masking despite sweeping COVID-19 laws that went into effect late Friday afternoon.

Gov. Bill Lee Friday, Nov. 12, allowed widespread bans on COVID-related mandates to become law — some with his signature and some not.

Shelby County had announced plans to assess a $25 per pay period surcharge against county employees who did not get vaccinated for COVID by a July deadline.

Last week, the area hit a milestone of more than one million COVID-19 vaccines administered. 

People can either have walk-in tests or make appointments in advance.

Two pop-up events this weekend will offer parents a chance to have their children ages 5 to 11 vaccinated against COVID-19.

The sudden rise of workplace shootings may be attributed to the stress of coming out of COVID, said Dr. Stephen Watts, a criminologist and victimologist in Memphis. 

The Shelby County Health Department reports having vaccinated 126 children age 5 to 11 on Thursday, Nov. 4.

Shelby County Schools reported 52 new COVID-19 cases among students and 7 among staff at its public and charter schools this week, just as the first children between 5 and 11 years old are receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. 

The transmission rate is decreasing in the county, according to Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Michelle Taylor. 

Watch the COVID-19 Task Force Briefing live now.

Children ages 5 to 11 will be able to receive COVID-19 vaccinations at the Shelby County Health Department beginning Thursday, Nov. 4.