Health department director Alisa Haushalter and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris react to the wave of confirmed COVID-19 cases, and a bill that could usurp local authority.

Without a statewide mask mandate, leaders across West Tennessee are working to help people understand there is not a rural and urban virus.

The latest hiccup is a higher-than-expected contract for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center to run the county’s forensic center for the region, with the county dipping into its reserves for the difference. 

A resolution by Edmund Ford Jr. on setting deadlines and milestones for the county budget season is on the County Commission’s agenda for Monday, Nov. 9. 

Shelby County reported 376 COVID-19 cases after more than 5,000 tests. The newly reported data comes one day after 17 cases were reported. Data entry has not caught up to an IT upgrade Tennessee Department of Health made last weekend.

Health Department asks faith leaders for their help as holidays approach, and church for many, will take center stage.

Facing History and Ourselves, Bridges, Girl Scouts: Heart of the South and the National Civil Rights Museum will participate in a panel discussion at Leadership Memphis’ annual Multicultural Breakfast Nov. 6 that will be held virtually this year. 

In expanded contact tracing interviews the Health Department has done with 704 infected people in the last month, 63% had symptoms but were out shopping, meeting with friends and going to work.

People behind the COVID pressure-valve facilities in Shelby County are ready to go to work if the surge overwhelms hospital capacity.

Mayors are concerned about rising cases, with at least one, Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald, joining the call of local health officials for a statewide mask mandate. 

Data shows transmission happening in suburbs where athletic events are frequent and masks are fewer. 

Budget committee chairman Edmund Ford Jr. amended his resolution to stick with the county’s policy of keeping its financial reserves at 20% of general fund revenues. He has suggested a 15% to 20% guideline.

The commission will vote Oct. 26 on setting new parameters for the spring budget season. And the county’s CFO says it could be dangerous to lower the percentage of reserves on hand. 

The Shelby County unemployment rate is back in single digits for the first time since COVID-19 hit in March, according to the state’s September jobs report.

The County Commission Scorecard tracks the final stand of a set of four police reforms applying to county law enforcement and what may be the last stand of the $5.8 million contract to buy a new voting system for the county.

The contract stirred the political embers of a recent budget season in county government as well as some spirited debate among commissioners about mask requirements.

A $5.8 million contract for a new voting system in Shelby County failed Monday, Oct. 12, in a 6-5 vote by the Shelby County Commission.

Shelby County commissioners voted down an ordinance that would have required the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to decertify deputies who use excessive force and to keep a record of officers who are fired or resign because of an excessive-force complaint. 

The Monday County Commission agenda also includes a return to a $5.8 million contract to buy a new voting system for Shelby County and a moratorium on delinquent tax sales on property in South Memphis.

The county Health Department loosened some of the restrictions regarding COVID-19 precautions, moves that will benefit sporting events and restaurants.

After six months of coronavirus, the resulting losses are profound, but the stories these people tell are about going on, a process they find central to living with the unknown. 

Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright said Friday he’d recently tested positive for the coronavirus and had just completed an isolation period. His wife was the only person exposed and has since tested negative for the virus.

The set of four ordinances cleared second reading this week on the Shelby County Commission with some shifts in votes and declarations since first reading. The third and final vote is in two weeks.

Suburban mayors are waiting on Shelby County Health Department following Gov. Bill Lee’s most recent order, hoping for some consistency between the state and local regulations.

The County Commission Scorecard sorts out a quartet of items from this week’s session — some that have been on the commission’s plate for some time.