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.

The new Raleigh branch library is set to open Dec. 14, replacing the 54-year-old location at 3157 Powers Rd., which is closed as the transition begins to its future home.

Memphis has reached 300 homicides this year, a record- shattering number. 

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

Sen. Lamar Alexander also said President Donald Trump has a record to be proud of during the interview on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast. And he said he carried Memphis in his five statewide general election wins by campaigning everywhere in the county, not just the Republican suburbs.

The city estimates a quarter of solid waste crews have the COVID virus and are in quarantine.

The cut-bank bluff design is the first of the changes to Tom Lee Park and the surrounding area Downtown by the Memphis River Parks Partnership.

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

Terri Freeman plans to leave the National Civil Rights Museum, the VP comes to Memphis and we now know who will get the vaccine first in Tennessee. 

Leaders of the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association and Mid-South Food Bank talked on “Behind The Headlines” about how the pandemic has changed their distribution models. 

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.

National Civil Rights Museum president Terri Lee Freeman is leaving in February to lead a museum in Baltimore. She arrived at the helm of the museum just as the city’s new activism began to surface.

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.

BancorpSouth is the fifth largest bank in the Memphis market based on local deposits.

This first phase will not involve the primary land at Tom Lee Park used for the annual Memphis in May Music Festival and World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest.

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.

About 38% of area ICU patients were either COVID-positive or suspected of having coronavirus. 

The number of patients hospitalized with coronavirus remains above 500 for the third day in a row. 

Students need mentors to give guidance and support while taking the next steps after high school.

School and child care staff are slated to be part of the second — and largest — phase for immunizing Tennesseans in the state’s four-phase distribution plan.