A $300,000 grant from International Paper to the Mid-South Food Bank is the first installment in a three-year, $900,000 pledge.

“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.”

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. 

Monday’s delay by the Shelby County Commission follows a similar delay in approval by the Memphis City Council.

The commission also votes on funding for a public health coordinator’s position at the Shelby County Health Department as part of the ongoing discussion about the county’s pandemic response.

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

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.

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

Commissioners questioned the Health Department’s response to the tent party in Hickory Hill Saturday that drew hundreds of people. Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter indicated there will probably be some changes but that there are limits on what her department can do. Later in the day there were some changes in that.

Health Department, city leaders and hospitals accessing staffing, looking for more.

Related Story: Health Dept.: Inspectors made multiple visits to All Black Affair

Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter said that an enclosed tent is an enclosed space and should be treated as such.

The Commission Scorecard looks at three votes by the body on issues that were more complex than the vote totals might reflect, starting with four new homes in Capleville.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, Nov.23, the Health Department reported that 89% of the area’s acute care hospital beds were occupied.

Shelby County Health Department modeling shows more than 500 COVID-19 patients will be hospitalized by Christmas Day.

Memphis-area hospitalizations hit their highest reported number since the pandemic began.

A group of two dozen business owners were critical of the new restrictions, telling county commissioners they will destroy businesses already on the edge. Some argued they are worse than the problems posed by the virus. Meanwhile, the first vaccine shipments could arrive in mid-December.

The Monday commission session also features a move toward a new disparity study in awarding county government contracts and a decision on increasing county funding to the conservancy that operates and maintains Shelby Farms Park on county land.

The latest restrictions when warranted will be crafted by the Health Department and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris as they work with legal experts to enact the health directives countywide.

The mayors of Bartlett and Germantown are pushing Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee for a statewide mask mandate. Short of that, they’re working to create a county-by-county mandate among West Tennessee mayors. 

Increased restrictions designed to curb the rising COVID-19 numbers are likely coming soon, mayors were told Thursday.

With $500,000 in federal grant money, the small-scale pilot includes electric vehicle chargers as well as a broader reconsideration of how county government makes the decision of which vehicles to purchase.

Letter from local hospital CEOs calls for residents to take personal responsibility for helping curb a growing surge of coronavirus cases in and around Shelby County.