Commissioner Mick Wright

Learning loss. Tennessee students will suffer severe and long-lasting damage from school closings.

Staying closed. SCS Superintendent Joris Ray says the countywide school system’s return to in-person instruction will be gradual. Earlier this month, Superintendent Ray said school buildings would remain closed until new cases are in the single digits for 14 days — something that has not happened since the first case was reported on March 8. Meanwhile, the Health Department says school re-openings have not resulted in increased pediatric cases.

Athletes denied. SCS students seeking to speak with Supt. Ray in a last ditch effort to save their fall sports season were refused a face-to-face meeting.

Bars reopen. The Shelby County Health Department was unable to prove bars were spreading the virus and allowed them to reopen. This led to criticism that SCHD is being too responsive to economic concerns.

More contagious. A new strain of the virus is reportedly faster spreading and “might be mutating in response to current preventative measures like mask-wearing and social distancing.” In other words, masks don’t prevent the spread. A study of the mutant strain, which is now the dominant one in Houston, was performed by Houston Methodist Research Institute.

Indiscriminate virus. Two governors contracted the virus this week: one supported a mask mandate, and the other did not.

This week. Below are this week’s graphs charting local tests, cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19. All data is via the Shelby County Health Department.

Thousands absent. About 3,000 SCS students have not logged into the virtual classes yet.

“We want to play.” Shelby County Schools announced the postponement of fall sports “until further notice,” which drew ire from parents and students who are protesting the decision and calling it unfair.

UM cluster. The health department is monitoring a cluster of cases at the University of Memphis.

Labor Day. The health department is reporting an increase in cases related to the opening of schools and the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Nashville kerfuffle. A now-retracted report from WZTV in Nashville questioned emails between metro officials appearing to hide the number of cases in bars. A Tennesseean fact check says that isn’t what happened.

Tennessee cases. Another Tennessean report said state officials left thousands of cases as “active” long after they weren’t. The state’s massive adjustment on 9/3 had no impact on the reported number of active cases in Shelby County.

CARES relief. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris has announced a grant program to benefit local restaurants adversely affected by the pandemic.

Vaccine trial. A COVID-19 vaccine trial is underway in Memphis and is in need of more minority participation.

This week. Below are this week’s graphs charting local tests, cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19. All data is via the Shelby County Health Department.

Seeing the light. New cases and active cases continue to fall in Shelby County as we hit the six month mark of the COVID-19 pandemic. Is this the light at the end of the tunnel? Area hospitalizations are also falling for both acute care and ICU patients.

City-county divide. Cases are reportedly falling inside Memphis but rising in the suburbs.

Reporting school cases. The State of Tennessee launched a dashboard tracking cases by school district.

The numbers. This week’s graphs will focus exclusively on Shelby County, and we’ll take a closer look at case fatality rates. All data below comes from the Shelby County Health Department.

Dead letter. Millington resident Troy Whittington shared a letter the Shelby County Health Department sent to his mother informing her of a positive test for COVID-19 and orders to isolate. But she passed away six months ago, on February 16.

Holiday delay. Cases are falling in Shelby County, but the Health Department wants to wait at least two weeks after Labor Day before relaxing its health directives.

Vaccine plans. The Health Department is making preparations to distribute a vaccine that the CDC says we should expect in late October or early November.

Quick tests. Sometime this month, Shelby County expects to have access to quick, $5 antigen tests purchased by the federal government.

Now for this week’s numbers.

Executive orders. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has extended the state of emergency through September with three executive orders that 1. allow county mayors to maintain mask mandates, 2. allow local governments to continue meeting electronically, and 3. allow for remote notarization of documents.

Going remote. Collierville High School is going to remote learning for two weeks following 5 reported cases.

School reports. The Shelby County Health Department will report cases of COVID-19 by school district but not by individual school.

Media database. The Commercial Appeal is asking parents, teachers and students to contribute reports of cases in individual schools to a database it has created.

Now for this week’s numbers.