As rural counties in Tennessee look to reopen businesses starting next next week, urban areas like Memphis are taking a more circumspect approach. Officials remain wary of reversing the impact of shutdowns on slowing the spread of COVID-19.
“Re-opening our city and getting our economy moving again is vitally important, but we must get back to business the right way,” said Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland at a Wednesday briefing.
He has extended his “Safer-at-Home” order to May 5. Governor Bill Lee’s statewide mandate will expire April 30, permitting businesses in 89 of Tennessee’s 95 counties to re-open next month. The governor is still discouraging crowds of 10 or more people from gathering.
Under the mayor’s renewed directive, large retailers such as Target, Walmart, and Kroger will face enhanced restrictions beginning Friday. They now must limit the number of people in stores to ensure social distancing and provide hand sanitizer at entrances.
Additionally, employees are required to wear masks, and customers are strongly encouraged to cover their faces.
“More people need to be wearing masks...all of us need to be doing that,” Strickland said, noting that on a recent trip to Walgreens he observed many people who were not.
But the city is easing up in other areas. Automated car washes can re-open. Certain city golf courses can as well, as long as players stick to a specific set of social distancing rules.
Strickland plans a gradual re-opening of other businesses conditioned on a decline in new COVID cases and hospitalizations.
“Our testing and contacting and tracing capabilities must be sufficient to contain the virus,” is another condition, the mayor explained.
Coronavirus infections are still rising locally—more than 1,900 as of Thursday. Athough, health officials say the rate of increase appears to be slowing. Still, testing hasn’t reached its full potential, despite many free sites now open.
“People are not clear on whether they have the ability to get tested or not,” said Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter, listing reasons why some sites have been underutilized. “Some people are still concerned that they may have to pay for testing.”
She said anyone with even mild symptoms such as a fever or cough should get tested.
In general, experts say only after widespread testing shows that COVID isn’t being transmitted by people who don’t seek medical treatment for it can more people safely get back to work.
“Once we have more adequate distribution across the county, we can begin to open those tests up to people who are asymptotic, and not just those who are symptomatic,” Haushalter said.
This post has been updated to reflect Mayor Strickland made his comments at Wednesday's briefing, not on Tuesday. We regret the error.