Parents in Collierville are divided on the Shelby County Health Department’s mandate and the district’s decision to align its guidelines accordingly. 

For the first time since March 2020, all Shelby County Schools students were expected to return to in-person classes amid rising COVID-19 cases. 

Students who do not comply and do not qualify for an exemption are to be sent home.

Here’s how some area colleges are handling vaccinations as students return to school for the fall. One is even paying students $1,000 to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

Three local bar/restaurants have laid down the law: If you want to drink or eat with them, you have to show proof of vaccination or that you’re COVID-free.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton was in Memphis to discuss violent crime, before the topic turned to COVID. 

Pediatric hospitalizations reflect COVID, rising number of respiratory infections.

Related story:

Masks will be required in all K-12 schools in Shelby County

Tennessee officials say local school boards and parents, not the state, should have the final say in whether students wear masks to school. 

The COVID-19 surge Shelby County is experiencing now is expected to be steeper than those at other times in the pandemic.

The Shelby County Health Department amended Directive No. 24 to require face coverings for students and teachers in all K-12 schools, officials announced Friday.

Germantown is “setting aside” its vaccine mandate for full-time employees. The city announced Tuesday it would require all full-time staff to receive a COVID-19 vaccination as an employment policy.

Of the 4,383 active cases in Shelby County, more than a quarter are in children, and those children are suffering more respiratory symptoms than they were earlier in the pandemic. 

Private schools in the Memphis area are adopting various protocols for reopening with COVID-19 in mind. 

A recently passed state law is raising questions about Germantown’s recent vaccination requirement. However, the city believes the employment policy is not prohibited by state law.

Attorney Ralph Gibson said in a letter that Christopher Rowland did not participate in the meeting: “While the meeting was happening, Mr. Rowland had dinner with his children, took an important phone call, and dealt with the dogs which needed to be let out during the meeting.”

Shelby County is now 60% of the way to the goal of vaccinating 700,000 residents against COVID-19.

County commissioners will vote Monday, Aug. 9, on a resolution urging the Shelby County Health Department to require masks be worn in public. Some on the commission are trying to avoid the politics of the county’s first mask mandate.

Shelby County had 1,051 active pediatric cases as of Tuesday, Aug. 3. The largest contingent is among 15- to 17-year-olds, who account for more than a fifth of cases.

The resolution is not binding and the council cannot enact a mask mandate as it did previously because the state has blocked the ability for local governments to do so.

The Shelby County mayor says a survey of county employees found that 70% had already been vaccinated.

Germantown will mandate vaccines for city employees with termination a possibility if they don’t comply. 

Dr. Jeff Warren believes it’s time for mandatory masking; Deni Reilly worries restaurants are going to bear the brunt of high COVID numbers once again.

The Shelby County Health Department has new guidance on masking.