Tag: mask mandate

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Masks No Longer Required on MATA Vehicles, in Facilities

Credit: Memphis Area Transit Authority

Face masks are no longer required in vehicles or on properties from the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA). 

The move follows federal court action Monday that struck down the mask mandate for public transportation issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Also, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it would no longer enforce the mandate after the federal court decision.  

“This means that passengers and MATA employees will no longer be required to wear a mask on vehicles and transit properties,” the agency said in a statement issued Tuesday.    

However, MATA said it was unclear whether or not the U.S. Department of Justice will appeal the decision, and it will monitor the situation. Masks are still welcome on MATA vehicles and in its facilities and “anyone needing or choosing to wear one is encouraged to do so.”

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Covid Mandate Exemptions Halted in TN

(Credit: Dreamstime)

All exemptions to Tennessee’s new laws against any Covid-19 mandates have been suspended. 

The new rules will not allow employers to mandate masks or proof of Covid vaccines for employees. However, many businesses complained about the proposals as they moved through a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly in October. So, legislators allowed exemptions for certain companies. 

So far, 69 Tennessee businesses and agencies have been granted exemptions to the laws. For Memphis this includes Barge Design Solutions, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Inc., Christian Brothers University, Rhodes College, Serenity Recovery Centers, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, University of Memphis, University of Tennessee, and more. 

All of the exemptions were suspended Wednesday by Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower, former Republican Majority Leader in the Tennessee House.

The move comes after a federal judge issued an injunction to stop the federal government from enforcing vaccine mandates for federal contractors in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. Another federal judge issued a similar nationwide injunction Tuesday barring Covid mandates on healthcare workers. Mumpower said his office could not find that going along with the new Tennessee rules, which include those exemptions, “would result in a loss of federal funding.”

“It is important to note that these exemptions may be reinstated if the injunctions are lifted, and it is legally permissible,” reads a statement from the comptroller’s office.

The office will continue, however, to take and process requests for exemptions from companies. Though, none will be granted “unless it is legally permissible.”

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Mask Mandate Lifted

Masks are no longer mandatory indoors at businesses, according to the latest health directive from the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD). 

Instead, masks are “highly recommended” and the new rules are effective immediately and will continue until the end of November. The move away from the indoor mask mandate comes “due to the decline in Covid-19 cases reflecting that Shelby County is currently not a high transmission area,” according to the SCHD. Masks are still required, however, for indoor school settings, with some exceptions for teachers for certain teaching purposes.  

Shelby County’s Covid-19 numbers have been decreasing over the past month, and currently the county is not considered a ‘high transmission’ area, according to the CDC.

Shelby County Health Department

“Shelby County’s Covid-19 numbers have been decreasing over the past month, and currently, the county is not considered a ‘high transmission’ area, according to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC],” reads the new directive. “This is due in large part to many businesses and schools who have been providing a safe environment for customers, students, and employees by requiring masks. Due to the decline in the numbers, the department highly recommends that businesses continue to require masks in indoor, public settings.” 

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Mask Mandate Likely to Continue in Next Directive

Hang on to your mask.

Clues dropped about the next Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) directive indicate citizens will be wearing face masks for a little while longer. Dr. Michelle Taylor, the SCHD director, would not divulge specifics about the new directive — or give a direct answer on face masks here — but said her department will use data to make the decision and “we’re not there yet.”

Taylor said about 13,000 Shelby County citizens have not had Covid or the Covid shot and are still vulnerable to infection. Also, about 92,000 children aged 5 to 11 here are not yet eligible for a vaccine. Add them together, and she said about 25 percent — one in four — of the county’s population could still get the virus. 

We are asking people to be patient with us.

Dr. Michelle Taylor, Shelby County Health Department director

“With that in mind,” she said, “we are asking people to be patient with us. We want to protect everyone in the county. We know people are tired of the 19-month marathon but if we keep those mitigation efforts in place a little longer, especially for the upcoming holiday season and we get that 5 to 11 year old age group vaccinated, then we can start to talk about easing restrictions.”    

The clues about a further mask mandate come at a time of a weeks-long fall of just about every Covid data point in Shelby County. The seven-day rolling average of new cases, the reproductive rate of the virus, hospitalizations, and the number of new cases are all falling routinely from the Delta-variant surge this summer. One figure — the weekly positivity rate of new tests — rose this week, Taylor said, but the figure was pushed higher on lower testing volumes. 

The new health directive is expected late next week as the current directive is set to expire.

Taylor said her department is readying for the arrival of vaccine doses for kids aged 5 to 11. SCHD is in constant communication with the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) on a distribution plan. Just as with the early roll out of the adult vaccine, Tennessee will get an allotment of pediatric doses just like other states. SCHD will be able to pre-order doses “very soon,” Taylor said.

The SCHD has also been working with local businesses in preparation of a proposed federal rule on vaccine mandates. The Occupational Health and Safety Adminstration (OSHA) has proposed a vaccine mandate for all companies with more than 100 employees. She said she’s urged businesses here to talk with their lawyers on the best way to comply with the proposal.  

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State AG Seeks to Block School Mask Mandates

Credit: state of Tennessee

Tennessee’s Attorney General is seeking a stay on the federal court decisions that allowed mask mandates back in some Tennessee schools.

Governor Bill Lee ordered that parents could opt their children out of mask mandates at public schools earlier this year. Attorneys in Shelby County and Knox County later won legal decisions that nullified Lee’s order and allowed school systems in both places to reinstate mask mandates.

Attorney General Herbert Slatery announced Monday afternoon he has appealed and will immediately seek a stay of those federal district court decisions.

“These orders have impeded the governor’s executive authority during an emergency to direct the state’s public health response, which is why this office will be appealing those decisions,” Slatery said in a statement.   

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Mask Mandate Ordered Through September

Masks could be required through the end of September, unless Shelby County’s Covid-19 situation improves, and employers should require workers to be vaccinated or be regularly tested. 

That’s all according to a brand new health directive issued by the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) Friday morning. The new order renews the mask mandate for most indoor spaces issued last week.   

The mask order could be renewed at the end of next month, health officials said. It could also be loosened in September if the county reaches a vaccination rate of 70 percent. Friday data show the county is 65.5 percent of the way to that goal of vaccinating 700,000 residents. On average this week, 2,119 people were vaccinated each day. The mandate could also be loosened if hospital capacity falls or cases fall in general. 

Credit: Shelby County Health Department

The new order also “strongly encourages employers to require COVID-19 vaccinations or regular COVID-19 testing for all unvaccinated employees, including those who are asymptomatic.”  While it’s only a suggestion, this part of the order is likely to rile those preferring personal liberty over public health. 

The final part of Friday’s order just cleans house, defining the difference in a third dose of the vaccine for those with immunocompromised conditions (which is reccomened now) and a booster for those who are fully vaccinated (expected this fall, according to SCHD). 

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Shelby County Mask Mandate Returns Friday

(Credit: Shelby County Health Department/Facebook

Face masks will once again be mandated for all indoor public settings in a new order from the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) that goes into effect Friday morning. 

Health officials say the change comes as new daily Covid cases surpass 638. The mandate is for everyone aged two and older, no matter their vaccine status, and begins at 7 a.m. Friday. 

Masks will be required in all indoor public settings, like bars and restaurants, common areas of hotels, multi-residential buildings, and private clubs. Masks may be removed at restaurants, bars, and other eating/drinking establishments by customers when they are seated. 

Masks can also be removed for other activities like doing cardio activity inside a gym, some grooming activities like getting a facial, and theater performances. SCHD recommends outdoor settings for strenuous exercise. 

Masks will remain optional in outdoor settings. Though, masks are recommended for unvaccinated individuals in crowded outdoor settings.

“We must have a universal mask mandate in Shelby County, and it needs to happen quickly,” said SCHD director Michelle Taylor. “The studies show that if we at least did that today we could see a slowing in the transmission rate in five to seven days. The mask mandate is absolutely needed to give our hospitals and the residents of Shelby County a fighting chance against the Delta variant.”

Shelby County Health Officer Bruce Randolph said the mandate could be rolled back to a recommendation if improvements are made in rates of Covid positivity, hospitalizations, and deaths. They’ll be relaxed, too, if at least 70 percent of Shelby County residents (age 12 and up) are fully vaccinated, he said. 

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Hospital ‘Bursting at Seams’ With Covid-19 Patients

Healthcare workers are “strained and stressed” as Covid-19 hospitalization numbers rise in Shelby County. 

That’s according to Kristen Bell, administrative director of nursing at Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital. Bell said usually summer is a time when there isn’t as much cold and virus activity, but Covid-19 hospitalizations here are peaking similar to winter numbers. 

A Methodist spokesperson said that as of Wednesday, 286 patients are hospitalized due to Covid-19 across its system here. That’s the highest number since the start of the pandemic. Of those patients, 73 are in the ICU. 

Bell said that Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital has needed to utilize its expansion department, its Covid-19 units are full, and the emergency department is “saturated.” Morale is down, according to Bell.

“It’s very much a capacity issue,” she said. “We are bursting at the seams. A bed isn’t clean for very long before we put someone else in it.”

Capacity isn’t the only concern, Bell said. The number of skilled workers able to provide specialized care to Covid-19 patients is also limited. 

“People aren’t coming to the hospital because they have a nose bleed or need stitches,” Bell said. “These people are really sick and need a higher level of care.”

Bell said in June she believed the worst part of the pandemic was over, with several days of single-digit Covid-19 hospitalizations. But a couple weeks after the Fourth of July, the numbers started to tick upward again. 

The only way to decrease the number of hospitalized cases is for more people to get vaccinated. The vast majority of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 are unvaccinated, Bell said. 

“A lot of our nurses are disappointed and frustrated that more people haven’t gotten vaccinated,” Bell said. “The vaccine is our secret weapon. It’s how we get out of this. Why would you not bring your weapon to battle?”

As healthcare workers, Bell said nurses want “nothing more than to heal people, but it’s very hard to heal people once they get this virus.” 

Mask Mandate

Emergency directors of Memphis hospital systems urged the city to reinstate a mask mandate in a letter Tuesday. 

The letter, read to the Memphis City Council by the city’s chief operating officer Doug McGowen, predicts a crisis for hospitals if Covid-19 cases continue to surge. 

The Covid-19 rate of hospitalizations is expected to double by the end of this month and increase six-fold by the end of September, McGowen said. 

“Failure to provide mitigation strategies at this point will be catastrophic to the Mid-South and will affect health care at every level,” the letter reads.

The Shelby County Commission voted Wednesday in favor of a new 30-day universal mask mandate and reinstituting six-foot social distancing indoors. 

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Executive Malfunction

Photo: Seventyfourimages | Dreamstime.com

On Wednesday, August 12th, 73 House Republicans sent a letter to Governor Bill Lee asking him to call a special legislative session to consider legislation about counties requiring that our children wear masks in schools. Though Lee refrained from calling a special session, he did issue an executive order on Monday, August 16th, allowing parents to opt their children out of mask-wearing, regardless of their school district’s rules. 

Around 2010, Republicans passed and touted virtual schools in Tennessee. When the pandemic hit and people wanted virtual, they said it was bad and children needed to be in the classroom. When children returned to the classroom and masks were required to keep them and teachers safe, Republicans wanted to take the masks away. 

Now, they’ve come up with another new plan for our children. But this one puts our babies, teachers, and families at even more risk. 

This is interesting because I thought Republicans campaigned on smaller government and local control. However, it appears that Democrats in the Tennessee legislature are the real advocates for smaller government and local control. Republicans on the campaign trail talk about local control, but in reality they’re for state control when it comes to something that runs counter to the national Republican agenda and, in many cases, the defunct Trump playbook.

This happened when Memphis removed the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue in what is now Health Sciences Park. It happened earlier this year in the discussions about teaching our young people about race relations in a comprehensive manner. It’s happening again, except this time, they are affecting the safety of our children, our teachers, and our citizens. 

The statistics are sobering. According to a case count compiled by The New York Times, the daily average of Covid-19 cases in Tennessee more than doubled (+126 percent) in 14 days. The same for the numbers of Tennesseans hospitalized (+109 percent). According to the Tennessee Department of Health, cases among children under 10 rose sharply in the beginning of August, once again more than doubling. So far, the state has counted more than 52,000 cases in patients 10 years old and younger, and six deaths. To some lawmakers, who are making their arguments based on percentages, six deaths may be acceptable to them. To me, six deaths is too many — and those six deaths could possibly have been prevented.

Now, in spite of those alarming numbers and the fact that only six Tennessee counties have implemented some form of a mask mandate, Republican legislators wanted to bring lawmakers back to Nashville in order to issue vouchers as a punishment/alternative for those parents who don’t want their children to have to wear a required mask (only indoors) while in school. This idea would have allowed them public money to take their children to a private school where masks are not required, the school voucher financial plan being a goal Tennessee Republicans have pursued with vigor. Though Lee’s executive order effectively removes vouchers as an option for this school year, by making masks optional by a state-level executive order, the governor has again cribbed notes from the GOP playbook of undermining local government. This time, the issue is not one of a public park or school curriculum, but of the health and safety of our children. 

This is way too much for the citizens of our state. The continued adversarial relationship between the state and Shelby and Davidson counties (the state’s largest contributors of tax dollars and resources) is nonproductive and stressful to all citizens.

How do you say decisions on community health should be made locally and in the very same breath and sentence remove local control in regards to children wearing masks at school? Many children in Shelby County and across the state live in multigenerational households. More and more children are requiring hospitalization when contracting Covid and can easily transmit the virus to parents and other family members whom they may come in contact with. These conditions may prove debilitating or fatal for a child or their family members. I disagree with the executive order. It is irresponsible. The goal is to stop the spread of the virus in Tennessee. This executive order in no way will curb the spread of the virus. As a matter of fact, it may accelerate the spread of Covid in our state.

Furthermore, trying to live and keep one’s family alive and healthy through this pandemic is stressful enough in and of itself. I pray that those of us who are in state leadership will take a few breaths and give local government and leadership an opportunity to govern without the threats coming from “little big brother.” Remember, we are talking about real and actual lives and livelihoods.

Antonio Parkinson is a Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing District 98.

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Black County Commissioners Oppose Lee’s Order on Masks in Schools

Members of the Shelby County Commission Black Caucus spoke out Tuesday against Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order allowing parents to opt their children out of school mask mandates.

Commissioner Tami Sawyer said the group stands with the parents in Shelby County who are concerned with the “distasteful” executive order.

“Parents are reeling from this decision,” Sawyer said. Based on pictures she’s received of school hallways, she said it’s unlikely that students are social distancing between classes. With students able to opt out of wearing masks, Sawyer said there will be an even greater spread of the virus. 

“It gave me the heebie jeebies to think about how that’s going to work without masks,” Sawyer said. “It’s not just the kids and that’s the point that needs to be driven home. When you think about the economic crisis that Shelby County is in, a lot of children are being raised in multigenerational homes. So they are taking this virus to their ailing grandparents, to their mother who is then taking it to work, to their younger siblings taking the virus to middle school or kindergarten.” 

Sawyer also noted that the executive order is another example of the state undermining local government. The local government cannot make decisions for itself without fear of litigation or punitive measures by the state, Sawyer said. 

“That is not the way state and local governments are supposed to work together,” Sawyer said. “Whenever Shelby County makes a decision that’s best for them, we have to be afraid or concerned that the state is going to come back and reverse it or punish us because of our decision, especially when it comes to our children and education.”

Commissioner Mickell Lowery, who has two school-aged children, said protecting children should not be political. 

“It’s hard to tell children to stay separated and social distance when they’re just being kids,” Lowery said. “It affects all of us.”

Lowery added that the group supports any method, “by any means,” to keep children safe. 

Commissioner Reginald Milton said the executive order is using students as “political pawns.” 

“I will not play politics or games with their lives,” Milton said. “I ask all of you to stand with us and say ‘this is wrong and the governor is wrong.’”

With three children in school, Commissioner Van Turner said as a parent, “it’s nerve wracking.” 

“I think parents have rights, but they don’t have rights to endanger the lives of other children in other households,” Turner said. “If that’s the case, why don’t we allow children to smoke at school. Here we are dealing with real life situations where people are passing and the governor is doing something opposite of what’s going to protect our young people.

Turner said the group supports all efforts to pursue legal action against the executive order. 

Shelby County Schools superintendent Joris Ray said Monday that he, along with the SCS board members and its general counsel, are reviewing the legalities of the executive order. In the meantime, he reiterated that masks are still required for all school employees, students, and visitors.