At Baptist, they extend the reach of nurses from four to six patients and allow beds to open. 

Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order allows students to opt out and attend classes without masks.

Other examples include K-12 schoolchildren whose parents have asked in writing for masking exemptions.

Mississippi is facing a record number of people hospitalized with the virus — 1,633 on Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health.

Germantown Baptist Church will reopen as a mass vaccination site in September.

The Pipkin Building vaccination site will not close at the end of August and Germantown and Collierville partners will open a high-volume site, said City of Memphis COO Doug McGowen.

Watch the COVID-19 Task Force Briefing live now. 

Collierville will host Raleigh-Egypt on Friday after Wooddale forfeits. 

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Today, the Shelby County Health Department reported 915 new COVID-19 cases. 

The widely believed notion that COVID-19 is only an adult problem is patently false.

Restaurateurs worry that Shelby County’s new mask mandate might scare customers, but prefer it over more stringent restrictions on their businesses.

Schools saw COVID-19 even when universal masking was required. The numbers from the first week of school, prior to Gov. Bill Lee’s order, provide a baseline.

Masks will be required in all public, indoor settings, including restaurants and bars.

The CEO of the region’s trauma center and safety net hospital said national competition among hospitals for the skilled specialists needed to put 21 beds back in use at Regional One is intense and costly. 

There are also questions about whether the move back to masks is legal, given the governor’s recent executive order.

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Health Dept. Director: Shelby County mask mandate ‘needs to happen quickly'

“I anticipate, honestly, that everyone that got the vaccine is going to want the booster. That is the feedback I have been getting,” says Melanie Keller, CEO of Meritan.

Suburban districts shared the number of students opting out following Gov. Bill Lee’s order. However, most students continue to mask.

“We must have a universal mask mandate in Shelby County and it needs to happen quickly,” Health Department director Dr. Michelle Taylor told the County Commission Wednesday. 

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Most — but not all — county commissioners support return to masks

The letter circulating Tuesday warns of “catastrophic” effects that could “affect health care at every level.” Meanwhile, the city council is urging Gov. Bill Lee to rescind his executive order to allow parents to opt out of school mask mandates.

Some students at the University of Memphis are petitioning to make the hybrid model a permanent option for all courses. 

Students are still mandated to wear masks, unless parents present a formal, written request to school officials to opt out.

Some restaurants are once again closing because of employees testing positive, and a group of employees walked out of Soul Fish’s Midtown location on Sunday because it didn’t close.

The final “Be a Good Neighbor” vaccination event will be held from 3-6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 21 at Greenlaw Community Center.

Health care workers say they are standing in solidarity with colleagues in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas who have petitioned their state governments to remove mandates that interfere with public health.