About 3,000 people took part in free precautionary COVID testing offered by the Shelby County Health Department last weekend. Many of those, looking for reassurance that it was safe to join relatives for the holiday, showed no signs of illness.

Nearly one in ten people tested positive.

Mary was 42 years-old and felt a lump in her breast for over a year.

I expected to spend my senior year rocking my Tiger blue around campus. Instead, I’ve spent almost every moment of it trapped behind a computer screen. Day in and day out, I stare at my laptop for hours at a time, hopping from class to class over Zoom. Sometimes the courses are lively. More often than not, they’re long and quiet, with my peers’ cameras and mics turned off. For the past four months, this has been my education and my life.

This Thanksgiving is going to be one we never forget.

Health officials expect the first limited quantities of COVID-19 vaccines to reach Shelby County sometime after Dec. 15. About 22,500 initial vaccine doses will go to the health department for distribution, with another roughly 11,000 going to some area hospitals.

This story was produced in partnership with the Institute for Public Service Reporting, and is part of the series Surging in Silence, which is supported by the Pulitzer Center.

In a record-breaking year for homicides in Memphis, deaths attributed to domestic violence have nearly doubled compared to 2019. Police and advocates say the pandemic has turned many of the factors that fuel domestic violence, such as unemployment and isolation, into a powder keg for abusive relationships.

Just ahead of Thanksgiving, Shelby County health officials are taking a closer look at the so-called data-driven "tripwires" that could lead to new restrictions in places where people gather, from restaurants and gyms to sporting events. 

But political analyst Otis Sanford says the calculations surrounding stronger measures involve more than just numbers of infections and deaths. Politicans are balancing public health needs with the need to keep the economy moving and people employed.