Leaders hinted (again) Tuesday that a new health directive expected Wednesday would make masks a recommendation, not a requirement, but said they expected to begin vaccinating those as young as 12 years old on Thursday.
Leaders have hinted at an end to the mask mandate for weeks. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris alluded to it again during a briefing from the Memphis Shelby County COVID-19 Task Force.
He read the current health directive, which says ”if case numbers and other indicators remain stable over the next 30 days, the next health directive, which will be issued in May [12th] 2021, will shift from a mandatory approach to a recommendation approach [on masks].” Harris noted that the county’s virus numbers have remained stable for the last 30 days. But he would not say more as not to “get out in front of tomorrow’s announcement.”
“There is light at the end of the tunnel but we still have a long way to go,” Harris said.
The new guidance expected Wednesday would end the department’s original county-wide mask mandate, which began in July. The Memphis City Council and Mayor Jim Strickland ordered a mask mandate inside the Memphis city limits in June.
Tennessee never had a statewide mask mandate. But Gov. Bill Lee ended all public COVID-19 health orders late last month, which ended local authority for governments in 89 counties to issue mask mandates.
At the same time, Lee requested counties with independent health departments (like Shelby) to end mask mandates no later than May 30. Knox, Hamilton, Sullivan, and Madison Counties already ended mandates. Shelby and Davidson Counties have not.
“COVID-19 is now a managed public health issue in Tennessee and no longer a statewide public health emergency,” Lee said at the time. “As Tennesseans continue to get vaccinated, it’s time to lift remaining local restrictions, focus on economic recovery and get back to business in Tennessee.”
Shelby County’s COVID-19 cases have rebounded back to levels seen in early February. The latest average weekly positive rate reported (for the week of April 25th to May 1st) was 6.8 percent. That’s roughly the same rate reported at the end of May/beginning of June in 2020, though the rate is nowhere near the peaks of three surges the county experienced (11.8 percent in mid-April 2020, 12.7 percent in mid-July 2020, and the record-high 17.9 percent in late December 2020).
Case rates could fall here, leaders said Tuesday, if they get the expected green light from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to begin vaccinating those as young as 12, a pool of about 50,000 in Shelby County.
Doug McGowen, the city’s chief operating officer, said if the approval comes tomorrow, vaccines could go to children here Thursday. He said getting a vaccination is a “leadership opportunity” for young people.
“Young people have led the way in so many aspects of our lives through our history,” McGowen said. “This is an opportunity, again, for them to show the way and show they are ready to move on and … get vaccinated.”
Demand for vaccinations is waning in Shelby County, he said. This will end many massive vaccinations sites around the county. While the Pipkin Building site will remain as a site, federal agencies will end their stints there on May 19th.
