Due to glitches with the state’s VRAS vaccine signup program, Shelby County has reverted to SignUpGenius to schedule appointments, Mayor Jim Strickland announced. 

The notices are drawing fire from a county commissioner after the commission approved $180,000 more in funding last month for the direct mail piece. The assessor’s office says it is Melvin Burgess’ way of “owning” the process.

Hall will serve up to 90 days and will also help conduct the search for new permanent director.

When state investigation is over, state Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey says she will report to the citizens of Shelby County. 

Bartlett’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen authorized Mayor Keith McDonald to enter an agreement with Lakeland and Arlington to open a joint vaccination location at its meeting Tuesday.

To build capacity, the City of Memphis expects to run five or six fixed vaccination sites plus one or two pop-up locations in neighborhoods where access is an issue.

Commission also approves a goal of giving locally-owned small businesses 20% of county government contracts and purchases.

State Health commissioner Lisa Piercey said she won’t have a completed report by Friday, March 12.

The bill in Nashville would outlaw partisan primary elections in Shelby and Davidson counties – the state’s two biggest concentrations of Democratic voters.

The new CDC guidance does not include children.

It only took a dozen days after that March 8 news conference for Mayor Jim Strickland to invoke the first civil emergency order in Memphis in more than a generation, closing gyms, bars and indoor restaurant dining.

Related story:

Year 1 of the novel coronavirus pandemic, by the numbers

The regular Monday session of the commission will be followed by a special Friday meeting with Tennessee Health commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey on problems that led the state to shift control of COVID vaccine distribution from the county to the city of Memphis.

City officials hope to vaccinate at least 700,000 people in Shelby County with at least one dose by Aug. 1. A total of 113,793 people have received at least one shot as of Friday, according to the Health Department.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris believes he may have found a way to stop the Byhalia Connection oil pipeline. Or at least give the community a tool for better regulating projects like it in the future.

Germantown Baptist Church’s vaccination site was dedicated to teacher inoculations Friday. Collierville Schools and Germantown Municipal School District collaborated to offer the vaccine to their employees.

The city released the appointment times for vaccines next week, and one spot has the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine.

Shelby County’s likely survived the worst of COVID-19, though there are two caveats that could alter the trajectory, David Sweat, county health department deputy director, said Thursday.

The state Department of Health announced its decision to move into phase 1c Tuesday afternoon, and the Shelby County Health Department expanded eligibility to the same group Wednesday morning.

Transfer of vaccine distribution will likely leave some Shelby County Health Department vacancies unfilled, county leaders say, as email trails from last month show those now in charge of vaccine distribution had questions that weren’t being answered as vaccine miscues piled up. 

The deadline to apply for a free gardening plot at Shelby Farms is March 8.

The Shelby County Health Department announced Wednesday it will move into phase 1c of its coronavirus vaccination plan effective Monday, March 8. 

The first shipment of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is expected to arrive in Tennessee on Wednesday as local officials increase the anticipated number of vaccines administered by Aug. 1.

Council member Chase Carlisle was sharply critical of health officials, the County Commission and county Mayor Lee Harris. The wording was later amended after a lengthy council debate.

The City of Memphis continued to transition into administering COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday, trying to streamline the process for those getting the shots.

Former Daily Memphian reporter Wayne Risher gives a detailed account of getting his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Raleigh.