Tag: Shelby County Health Department

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Health Officials Urge Vaccinations on Rising COVID-19 Cases

(Credit: Dreamstime)

Health officials here are urging residents to get COVID-19 vaccinations, as they suspect the Delta variant has caused cases to spike recently.

In a statement issued Thursday, the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) said the Delta variant is 50 to 60 percent more transmissible than the original COVID-19 strain. It said a list of evidence points to increased Delta activity in Shelby County: 

• The seven-day COVID-19 case average has more than doubled in the last six days, increasing from 26 on July 1st to 59 on July 6th.

• The reproductive rate of the virus is currently 1.22, the highest it has been since June 25, 2020.

• The seven-day average positivity rate is now 4.5 percent, increasing from 2.9 percent on July 1st.

• A total of 58 Delta variant cases have been identified in Shelby County as of July 7th, while another 26 cases are suspected to be Delta variant cases. SCHD has projected that the Delta variant could become the dominant strain in Shelby County by the end of July.

“All of the COVID-19 vaccines that have received emergency use authorization in the United States, including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, provide a high degree of protection against the Delta variant, as well as the other COVID-19 strains,” said Shelby County Health Officer Dr. Bruce Randolph. “Even the so-called ‘breakthrough cases’ that have occurred in fully vaccinated individuals are usually mild and rarely require hospitalization. The unvaccinated are the most at risk for serious illness from the Delta variant.”

COVID-19 vaccines are free and available at pharmacies, clinics, and public vaccination sites. The full list of vaccination sites is available here. 

The health department will also offer COVID-19 vaccinations to adults and children 12 and older at 814 Jefferson Avenue on Saturday, July 10th, and Saturday, July 17th, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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Mask Mandate Likely to End Wednesday, Shots for Youth (12-15) Could Begin Thursday

Shelby County Health Department/Facebook

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.

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New COVID-19 Virus Cases Up by 178

New virus case numbers rose by 178 over the last 24 hours. The new cases put the total of all positive cases in Shelby County since March 2020 at 88,521.

Total current active cases of the virus — the number of people known to have COVID-19 in the county — are 1,302. The number reached a record high of more than 8,000 in late December and only rose above 2,000 in October. The new active case count represents 1.5 percent of all cases of the virus reported here since March 2020.

As of Friday, March 5th, in Shelby County, 164,472 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been given. As of Friday, 50,679 people had been given two doses for full vaccination, and 113,793 had been given a single dose.

The Shelby County Health Department reported that 3,410 tests have been given in the last 24 hours. So far, 1,032,550 tests have been given here since March 2020. This figure includes multiple tests given to some people.

The latest weekly positivity rate declined. The average number of positive cases for the week of February 21st was 4.9 percent. That’s down from the 7 percent of average cases recorded the week before. It’s all down from the record-high 17.5 percent in late December.

Six new deaths were reported over the last 24 hours. The total death toll now stands at 1,517.



The average age of those who have died in Shelby County is 73, according to the health department. The age of the youngest COVID-19 death was 13. The oldest person to die from the virus was 103.

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Vaccine Crisis Politics: Commission Meeting Previews Next Year’s Election Divide

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

Not that it is, or should be, the most significant fact to emerge from last week’s COVID-19 debacle in Shelby County, but, all the same, it’s a fact: The 2022 county election has begun, with the sides  being chosen and the weapons weighed.

Much of that became obvious at a special called meeting of the Shelby County Commission on Friday, February 26th, when the 13 commissioners were given a chance to interrogate County Mayor Lee Harris regarding the Tennessee Department of Health’s charges of mismanagement of COVID-19 vaccination by the Shelby County Health Department, resulting in TDH’s yanking responsibility for allocating vaccines locally and reassigning that function to the city of Memphis.

In the course of two hours of tense and sometimes volatile questioning of Harris, who remained in his upstairs office and appeared virtually via webinar, the commissioners, most of whom were seated in their regular chamber seats in the auditorium of the Vasco Smith County Building, cleaved unmistakably along partisan lines. 

Jackson Baker

Four of the body’s five Republicans — Mick Wright, David Bradford, Amber Mills, and Mark Billingsley — directly challenged the county administration, with Bradford, Mills, and Billingsley questioning the leadership of Harris, a Democrat, and Wright demanding an accounting from Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter, who was absent from the session and, in fact, had, as Harris announced at the meeting, tendered her resignation that very day.

Harris — who declined, as he said, to engage in “navel-gazing”— kept a solemn mien as he stressed the need to “remediate” the situation, going forward, and fielded inquiries about the imbroglio and its details, including spoilage and subsequent wastage of an alleged 2,500 doses of Pfizer vaccine, the purported stockpiling of some 30,000 doses, unauthorized vaccination of children, possible theft of vaccine from the Pipkin vaccination site, and much more.

There were references in state documents to a “power struggle” between the county and Memphis city government over vaccine administration. Harris denied knowledge of any such development, but Billingsley reinforced that meme by lengthily extolling what he portrayed as Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland‘s filling a void with a display of “leadership.”

Bllingsley, a former commission chairman, is widely regarded as being a likely GOP candidate in 2022 to oppose Harris’ re-election. Another Republican known to be considering a race for county mayor next year is the well-connected Frank Colvett Jr., the current chairman of the Memphis City Council.

In normal circumstances, partisan differences on the county commission are not hard and fast, and allegiances are formed across party lines. (So are antagonisms: One of Harris’ persistent critics is Democratic member Edmund Ford Jr., who chimed in his discontent Friday along with the aforementioned Republicans.) But there was a drawing together on the Democratic side as well; Democratic Commissioners Van Turner and Reginald Milton rose to Harris’ defense on Friday with expressions of praise for his conduct of the mayoral office.

Turner even seemed to imply that the state’s action reflected a bias of Republican state government against Shelby County as a “step-child,” and noted that equivalent vaccine mishaps in Knox County had largely escaped censure by the TDH.

The current crisis will eventually be resolved or it won’t, but in the meantime it has offered a preview of a partisan divide, which may partially heal over but is bound to become more pronounced the closer we come to election year 2022.

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State: No Harm From Expired Vaccines

CREDIT: Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime

Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime

A state health official said no harm will come to Shelby Countians who received an expired COVID-19 vaccine from the Shelby County Health Department, though the shot may be less effective.

Dr. Lisa Piercey, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH), said Tuesday, March 2nd, that many from the Memphis area have contacted her office recently, worried they received an expired dose of the vaccine. Piercey said many have a paper record of their vaccine from the health department that shows their shot had expired, sometimes more than two weeks before they received it.

Piercey said her office investigated, and she believes many of these instances can be linked to a clerical error by the health department. Many sheets with an expired date were printed and taken to a vaccine site here, she said. However, TDH is not “resting on that assertion as a final decision. We’re verifying those cases ourselves.” But she said TDH believes the “vast majority” of the cases were clerical.
State of Tennessee

Dr. Lisa Piercey

“Nothing bad is going to happen if you get an expired vaccine,” Piercey said. “The worst thing that can happen is that the vaccine is not as effective as a temperature-controlled or unexpired vaccine would be.”

A state investigation of the health department’s management of the vaccine rollout here uncovered 2,400 doses that had to be discarded because they were allowed to be defrosted but weren’t used. State health officials found six instances of these expiration events in February. The investigation results in the resignation of SCHD director Alisa Haushalter on Friday, February 26th.

Piercey said her team and personnel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are on the ground in Shelby County. They are pulling together data to help ensure the temperature integrity of vaccines here.

State of Tennessee

State officials will begin vaccinating those in the 1c population beginning Monday. The group includes those aged 16 and older with high-risk medical conditions like obesity, COPD, and diabetes. Piercey said this group includes more than 1.1 million Tennesseans and the state “unfortunately has high rates of chronic diseases.”

Moving into the next phase comes as a “large surplus” of vaccines are expected to flow to Tennessee in the next two to three weeks. This surge of vaccines includes the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Piercey said.

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Amid Re-shuffling of Vaccine Policy, Harris Keeps Stiff Upper Lip

Harris on Zoom call with Commission

“I don’t think there’s a lot of time right now to do a lot of navel-gazing. We need to keep on plowing here and moving forward.” That was Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris’ way, at a Friday afternoon press conference, of summing up what had to have been one of the most harrowing weeks that any public figure has endured of late.

During the past week, 1) a 100-year snow caused a water crisis and immobilized his and other local jurisdictions, which found themselves locked down, not by government mandate, but by Mother Nature; 2) a county vaccine-distribution program, already regarded as problematic, was halted by state edict (not without some subtle shaming by state authorities) and turned over to the city of Memphis and other local agencies, public and private; 3) the director of the county Health Department, Alisa Haushalter, resigned amid a widening scandal related to a state investigation revealing the spoiling locally of 2,500 unused vaccine doses.

Prior to the press conference, Harris had spent a visibly uncomfortable two hours sitting Buddha-like in a special called meeting of the Shelby County Commission, whose members took turns grilling him on the import and details of the vaccine debacle. There was concern among some commissioners about an alleged “power struggle” between city and county. Commissioner Van Turner rejected what he saw as a misleading sub-text here and there questioning the mayor’s performance.

There was little brand-new information adduced in the dialogue with the commission, aside from the revelation of the Haushalter departure, which had leaked out earlier Friday, and references to “suspicious activity” and alleged theft of vaccine from the Pipkin/Fairgrounds vaccine-distribution site that had stirred law enforcement inquiries at the site. Going forward, Pipkin will be operated by the  by the city of Memphis, in tandem with UT Health Sciences.

In the later press conference, Harris revisited some of the content of the commision meeting. In his Zoom talk with reporters, he shouldered the potentially humiliating loss of surrendering responsibility for vaccine storage. He accepted it in the spirit of “it-is-what-it-is” and vowed to seek “a new working relationship and a clean slate” working in harness with the state, the city, and the other agencies charged now with distribution of vaccines and administration of vaccinations.

Harris vowed to “put forth the best practices” and said he was having “departments engaged in remediation planning” and ”moving their focus away from vaccine administration.” He said he was having daily conversations with Lisa Piercey, director of the state Health Department of Health, who on Monday publicly terminated the county Health Department’s responsibility for storage and allocation of vaccine supplies.

Harris was diplomatic about how it came to pass that Haushalter resigned. “We had been in conversation about the path forward and the appropriate path forward at this juncture, based on what had happened and based on what Director Haushalter wants to do. … I agreed with her decision to resign. So I prefer to, you know, try to treat all our employees with respect and dignity, and particularly because all of our employees devoted their careers to service or community helping. So the decision was ultimately made, that she was resigning, and I accepted that resignation.”

Haushalter, who did not attend either the commission meeting or the press conference, will cease her duties as of March 15th, but will evidently remain on the county’s human resources roster until March 31st. Haushalter had been appointed to her directorship by former county Mayor Mark Luttrell and was inherited by Harris when he began his mayoralty in 2018.

Said Harris: “All of us are learning about the wasted dosage, that there were doses expiring in the pharmacy, and so forth. And so we’re gonna have to work hard to rebuild trust. … I’ve talked about making sure that we change out some of those personnel that have responsibility for management.” As for replacing Haushalter, “We’ll go through a process of trying to identify a really incredible candidate for this time. I mean, this is a very unique time that I don’t think any of us have seen in our lifetime. Our public health employees are burning the candle at both ends. … They’ve been working extremely hard. And I think we have an opportunity here to get someone who is poised for this moment.”

Asked about his ability to interface positively with others, Harris said, “I have a good relationship with at least the executive branch of the city. And with respect to … other folks in town, with respect to the commission, a great working relationship with them. I think this is just a challenging period for everyone, particularly, you know, all of us on the Joint Task Force. You know, we’re all exhausted, because of the pandemic. We’re all frustrated. We all want things faster. We all want more quickly, we all want to be better. But I think on the whole, given where we are on such a tough road ahead. I’m pretty blessed.”

Harris’ determination to discover silver linings extended to one of the revelations from the state investigation that resulted in this week’s reordering of responsibilities — the fact of 50,000 unused vaccine doses in Shelby County. This extra inventory, he noted, happened to be the solution to the mounting determination in various quarters to reopen the schools and simultaneously to vaccinate Shelby County’s teachers.

“That was always the plan.” And, Harris said, it began to seem like it was a possibility during the snowstorm, around February, when we started saying, ‘Okay, we’re going to reopen!’”

Harris concluded his press availability with a promise to be forthcoming with the public henceforward. “So please,bear with me, okay?”

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Health Department: Police Said Not Enough Evidence to Report Vaccine Theft

CREDIT: Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime

Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime

The Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) said a law enforcement official said there was insufficient information to report theft in the incident allegedly involving stolen COVID-19 vaccines earlier this month.

Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) officials said Friday morning that a volunteer at the Pipkin Building vaccine site stole syringes filled with the COVID-19 drug. That announcement comes in the wake of broader accusations by the state that the health department is mishandling the vaccine rollout.

The SCHD released this statement about the theft Friday afternoon:    

“Our understanding is that in the beginning of February, a site supervisor received information that a volunteer might have engaged in suspicious behavior. Although there were no witnesses to a theft, other staff were suspicious of the volunteer, who is a medical professional.

“The Shelby County Health Department removed the volunteer from the premises and the site supervisor contacted law enforcement regarding the incident. Law enforcement concluded that there was insufficient information to file a report of any theft or unlawful conduct.”

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State Department of Health Pulls County Health Department Out of Vaccine-Distribution Loop

CREDIT: Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime

In the wake of its most severe and prolonged weather emergency in recent history, Shelby County received another shock Tuesday with the announcement by the state Department of Health that the Shelby County Health Department has mismanaged storage, allocation, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine. Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime

Dr. Lisa Piercey, director of the TDH, said investigators from her department had, on an emergency weekend visit to Memphis, concluded that some 2,400 doses of temperature-sensitive Pfizer vaccine had been allowed to spoil before being distributed and were subsequently junked. The investigators had also determined that the Health Department was in possession of an inventory of some 50,000 doses — 30,000 more than the TDH had anticipated.

Those discoveries prompted a significant revision of how vaccines will be delivered henceforth to Shelby County, Piercey said. At least for the short run, they will not go to the Health Department for further allocation but will be delivered directly to the distribution sites of participating partners, which include the City of Memphis, UT Center for Health Sciences, and numerous other agencies, public and private, offering vaccination services.

Meanwhile, the TDH has dispatched personnel to embed with the Health Department as advisors. Piercey could offer no long-term prognosis on how long the new arrangement will last.

Dr. Shelley Fiscus of the TDH said that the spoiled Pfizer doses never left the premises of the in-house Health Department pharmacy that was the starting point of the local distribution network, but had been thawed along with doses that were distributed to vaccination sites. The surplus doses were refrigerated and then discarded after they had reached their expiration date.

This process occurred several times, beginning on February 3rd, and only on occasion could be blamed on the week of bad weather, the TDH investigation found. Poor “communication” was alleged to be a major cause of the spoliations.

Terming himself “absolutely supportive” of the state Department’s actions, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris pronounced the discovered disruptions “gut-wrenching” and said he had terminated the county’s site manager who had managed the relationship with the pharmacy and had also requested for the pharmacist “to be removed.” He also said he had launched an internal investigation to complement the state review.

A public chorus of indignation on social media sites, which had previously focused on criticism of the Health Department’s restrictions and had increased with the snafus at the Pipkin vaccination site (now and henceforth to be managed by city government in connection with UT) began to focus on the new revelations. And members of the Shelby County Commission, many of whom had withheld public criticism earlier, were coming forward with expressions of concern.

“There’s no excuse for having to dump the vaccine,” said Commissioner Van Turner, although he said, in taking note of hits that the Health Department’s Alisa Haushalter was taking, that she “could have been better supported.” Commissioner Mick Wright, who has often slammed the Health Department for “insensitivity” in its dealing with small businesses and citizens, called for the County Commission to be directly involved in the deliberations of the city-county Covid-19 task force.

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Five Businesses Closed on COVID-19 Violations

CREDIT: SCHD/Facebook

SCHD/Facebook

The Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) announced the closure of five restaurants/bars after Health Directive 17 compliance inspections held on February 5th.

The businesses will each be closed for 14 days, “due to multiple documented violations of requirements and provisions,” according to SCHD.

The locations closed were:

Soulz Café & House of Soul – 549 S. Parkway East
El 7 Mares Bar & Grill – 3681 Jackson Ave.
Blue Nile Hookah & Vapor – 4205 Hacks Cross Rd., #111
Agavos Cocina & Tequila – 2924 Walnut Grove Rd.
Hadley’s Pub – 2779 Whitten Rd. (Bartlett)

The most recent health directive information can be found here.

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“Safer At Home” Lifted In New Health Directive

CREDIT: Shelby County Health Department/Facebook

Shelby County Health Department/Facebook

Shelby County Health Department director Alisa Haushalter speaks at Tuesday’s briefing.

The Shelby County Health Department formally issued a new health directive (No. 17) Wednesday afternoon and the new, looser rules will go into effect Saturday.

Health department officials said Tuesday they would issue the new directive sometime this week. Then, Health Officer Dr. Bruce Randolph outlined highlights of the directive. No material changes were made in the formal directive delivered Wednesday.

Some big changes allow restaurants to fill their dining rooms to 50 percent capacity, instead of the 25 percent allowed under the previous health directive.

Here are some the other highlights of the new rules as outlined by the health department:

• Lifts the more restrictive measures of the “Safer at Home” health directive No. 16 and returns to safety measures found in health directives 14 and 15 (includes restaurant capacity).

• Focuses on personal responsibility as the measure of how COVID-19 will ultimately impact Shelby County and surrounding communities.

• Nothing is closed per se. Certain businesses that have more interaction with the public have additional, specific safety measures as detailed in the directive.

• Organizers/businesses that want to submit a proposal for a specific event or wish to expand their operations in a manner that is not already addressed in the health directive, should submit a plan through the online portal.

• Schools are strongly encouraged to suspend all school-related close-contact sports at this time.

Read below for the new health directive in full:

[pdf-1]