With the return of school and contact sports, the Memphis-Shelby County COVID-19 task force is working aggressively to expand communication, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said Tuesday, Aug. 25, including broad measures outlined in Health Directive No. 11 on Monday.

Within 12 hours, school districts are to notify all people who were exposed or may have been exposed on school properties.

Coronavirus: Health Department to report cases by school district

“That includes everyone at risk — students at risk, family members at risk, staff and families at risk. This information will be shared even if there is only a single case of potential exposure or exposure,” he said.

“In addition, there will be regular releases to the public about pediatric cases. Because of the stigma associated with disease, this info about children will have to be handled with extreme care.”

The information released to people at risk will not include specifics of who the positive case is, including if it is a student or staff member.

The local health department is now working to report the number of pediatric cases by school districts the children attend. The reporting will include private schools, according to Alisa Haushalter, director of the Shelby County Health Department.

The department is not currently considering a plan to report by individual schools.

High school goes virtual after COVID outbreak

“We will focus on the community that surrounds the school,” she said. “Any transmission in school is really a reflection of community transmission.”

By breaking pediatric cases down by school district, including the municipal districts, she says it will help elected officials know what actions to take.

In Tennessee, school-based reporting of cases has been contentious, with Gov. Bill Lee first saying the privacy concerns were too difficult to navigate. Last Thursday, he said the state was working on a way to report cases by school.

“We will continue to look to the state health department for guidance,” Haushalter said. “I know the governor has sought some reprieves from the federal government to be able to release information. If that changes, we will change locally.

“At the current time, we really want to focus on reducing transmission but also assuring that children are not stigmatized and that they are able to get back into the classroom quickly and continue to learn, which is the highest priority.”

In the directives issued Monday, a provision is outlined for how limited-service restaurants may be relicensed as full-service restaurants and reopen.

Schools must notify at-risk contacts within 12 hours, send weekly updates

Food sales must account for more than 50% of sales. Proprietors will be asked to submit 30 days of receipts as proof to get relicensed.

“If they can be relicensed and thrive as businesses, we are very supportive of that,” Haushalter said.

The masking directive issued Monday clarifies that children who are 3 and older are required to wear masks, she said, noting that masks can be a choking hazard for children under 3, and should not be used.

The new directive lends clarity to language, that under certain situations, guardians of residents and others will be allowed to be in nursing homes. Harris made the request of Gov. Bill Lee.

In an update on social distancing in sports venues, Haushalter said the recommendation is 12 feet of distancing for spectators. 

“We have received a lot of feedback,” she said. “Six feet is used for very casual contact. It is not for people yelling or actively engaged in drinking alcohol. We came to a place that 12 feet was a fair number. We initially said indoors needed to be 18 feet. We have reduced it to 12. We will continue to look at it. That is why data is so important.”

To help more people who own close-contact businesses, such as salons, the county is hosting a webinar for proprietors to apply for “Our Beautiful Comeback grants.”

The county set aside $1 million in CARES Act funding to help the hundreds of business owners who were closed longer than other businesses and now must operate with one customer at a time.

County offering COVID grants for close-contact personal service shops

Each business is eligible to receive $2,000.

The webinar is at 3 p.m. Aug. 31. Registration is available online. Those who have not already, will receive an email notice of the webinar.

The number of new cases reported Tuesday was 122. The reproductive rate is still below 1, but has risen to 0.98. The duplication rate - how long it takes case numbers to double - is now 45 days. Last week, it was 40.

The median age for COVID-17 deaths is 73 in Shelby County. The majority of cases are still occurring in people under age 45. A child under the age of 13 died this week, and COVID-19 was either a contributing cause or the cause of death, Haushalter said.

Because the recovery time can be much longer than 21 days, it is possible the health department will no longer include the number of people who have recovered.

“We may report differently on recovering or stop altogether,” she said. The decision will reflect national standards.

Along with case numbers, the positivity rate is also declining. The weekly rate is now at 11.5%.

With new testing sites, including a drive-thru location at Walgreens at Shelby Drive and Ross Road., the county will soon have capacity to test 10,000 people a day. 

The county’s safety-net team is opening a site at the former emissions center on Appling Road. Christ Community Health Services will be offering an additional site. With its new 141 employees, the local health department will also be offering more testing.

Currently, more than 10,000 people are under quarantine in the county.

Haushalter again reminded people to “stay the course.”

“We know people are getting fatigued ... but as schools open, contact sports are back, we need to give that a few weeks to see the outcome. Ideally, our numbers will continue to come down.”