Mississippi is implementing protocols last in place during the peak of the pandemic as the state’s hospitals become overwhelmed and cases continue to grow.
As cities and companies across the country amend their masking rules due to the new CDC guidance Action News 5 looked into how these changes would impact Memphis and Shelby County.
Tennessee’s reporting more than 2,000 pediatric COVID 19 cases over the past two weeks and a major pediatric care provider in Memphis said positivity rates have soared into double digits.
Despite a new guideline from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves still does not want to mandate masks in schools.
The City of West Memphis wants the community to put their masks back on. While the city does not have the authority to enact another mask mandate, Mayor Marco McClendon said he’s reinstating an ordinance that strongly suggests masking while in public.
New COVID-19 cases continue to soar across the Mid-South as the highly contagious Delta variant threatens to ruin much of the progress communities have made fighting the virus.
The message from Tennessee’s Health Commissioner is the state is going in the wrong direction when it comes to COVID-19 cases. Dr. Lisa Piercey gave her first joint press conference on Friday since the start of the surge this month.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris issued an executive order Friday to give Shelby County Administration employees paid time off to get their COVID-19 vaccine.
With almost two weeks to go until the start of school for a lot of Shelby County, the county Health Department is saying it’s up to each district to decide what health protocols to enact in class. So far most municipal school districts have decided to make masks optional.
As we begin to see new masking guidelines coming from places like the Shelby County Schools, one Memphis restaurant decided to voluntarily re-implement a mask mandate of its own.
The largest school district in Mississippi will not require masks in schools despite guidance to the contrary from the state’s health department. DeSoto County Schools are back in class on August 5.
Doctors said the Mid-South is experiencing a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, but this time there’s a way to get above water. Health leaders continue to promote vaccines as your best protection against the virus. Now they’re encouraging parents of school-aged children more than ever to get their kids vaccinated.
Every Monday, Joe Birch interviews Dr. Shirin Mazumder at the WMC Action News 5 Digital Desk. Dr. Mazumder is an infectious disease specialist at Methodist Healthcare.
The Director of the CDC is calling the surge in COVID-19 cases the ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’ Now, one Mid-South state is recommending all eligible students and school staff get vaccinated before the start of school begins in just a few weeks.
Tennessee’s chief medical officer cited lack of effective leadership as the reason in his recommendation to fire Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the state’s former top vaccination official.
Shelby County Health officials suspect the delta variant makes up at least 72 percent of current COVID-19 cases here. That’s far outpacing the national average.
