FedEx shares closed above $300 for the first time in the company’s history on Tuesday Dec. 8, after falling as low as $88.68 in mid-March.

“If you are a licensed medical provider in any domain, we need you,” said Doug McGowen, City of Memphis chief operating officer. “There are paid and unpaid positions. We also need non-medical volunteers.”

A total of 151 area ICU patients were COVID-positive, and nine were suspected of having the virus as of 5 p.m. Monday, according to Tennessee’s Healthcare Resource Tracking System. They represented nearly 41% of the total number of ICU patients. 

About 41% of area ICU patients were either COVID-positive (151) or suspected of having the virus (9), as of 5 p.m. Monday, according to Tennessee’s Healthcare Resource Tracking System.

Shelby County commissioners called on Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee Monday, Dec. 7, to enact a statewide mask mandate, but the vote wasn’t unanimous. It was among a series of COVID-related measures. 

Christ Community Health Services, the Mid-South Food Bank, Las Americas and MICAH will be honored for outstanding service in a very unusual year. 

Thirty-two percent of SCS students are expected to be in the classrooms when school starts in January, compared with only 17% of SCS teachers, who will mostly be working from home. Some say schools shouldn’t open at all.

Three more businesses have been cited for a variety of COVID-safety violations.

The Canadian government has agreements with seven vaccine makers including Pfizer and Moderna.

The 311 cases come from 2,706 tests, which gives the day a positivity rate of 11.5%.

How fast the vaccine is available to the general public will depend on how many people in the priority categories decide to get it.

Shelby County Health Department reported six new deaths Sunday, Dec. 6, and 702 people in the county have died with COVID-19.

From Nov. 21 to Dec. 5, the Health Department reported an average of 415 new cases and 3,980 test results a day yielding a 10.4% positivity rate. With cases outgrowing tests, that’s leading to a surging county positivity rate.

The Shelby County Health Department reported 541 new COVID-19 cases and seven virus-related deaths in its daily update Saturday.

Staffing shortages account for bottlenecks in emergency rooms, and the inability to staff hundreds of vacant hospital rooms.

Thirty area ICU beds and 198 area acute care beds were available.

A panel of experts shared their insights on how the pandemic has affected retail, office, industrial and multifamily real estate, and the effects long after COVID-19 is gone.

Vice President Mike Pence called Memphis-born FedEx “a remarkable American company” and said it will be crucial to successful execution of a COVID-19 vaccination program.

The Health Department ordered In Love Memphis to close for two weeks, said Alisa Haushalter, Shelby County Health Department Director. That’s the minimum amount of time the agency can require a facility to close.

Dozens of sites with varying procedures and requirements test public’s willingness, ability to get tested for COVID-19.

COVID-19 immunizations will rollout this month under a revised state plan that defines the priority orders for Tennessee residents. 

Shelby County Health Department health officer Dr. Bruce Randolph said that the agency will reexamine the loopholes or confusion in the current health directive.

While selectively adding some elective surgeries, Methodist anticipates it will pause elective procedures again in anticipation for increased COVID-19 cases stemming from the Thanksgiving holiday.