The mayors and health department have announced the beginning of Phase 2 of the Back-to-Business Framework for Memphis and Shelby County. The roll into Phase 2 follows 14 days of flat or declining numbers of new coronavirus cases.
- Spas and tattoo parlors can open at 50% capacity
- Non-contact sports facilities that have dining rooms can open them at 50% capacity
- Gyms and libraries can expand from 25% to 50% capacity
- Purposeful gatherings of less than 50 people now allowed (previous limit 10)
Everything else that was open under Phase 1, stays open under the same guidelines.
A small business owner Downtown posted this and it’s worth a repost:
River City Pedalers, one of the party pedal bike companies, posted that the city won’t allow them to open until Phase 3. The city really needs to be careful with those. Riders could sit every other bike seat to maintain 6 feet of distance, but the trouble is, the bikes make stops at bars so riders can buy shots. That produces scenarios where the bike riders crowd 16 people into a 3- to 4-foot space to order; there is no way the captains of the pedal bikes nor the people who work at the bars could get the riders to maintain space.
The New Wing Order food truck’s schedule for the week includes a stop Downtown, at Cordelia’s Market 5-8 Wednesday.
Here’s where to get your award-winning food to-go this week!
🌶️ TU, 11-1: TAG Truck Center (4450 American Way)
🌶️ W, 5-8: @cordeliasmarket (737 Harbor Bend Rd)
🌶️ TH, 4-7: Yorkshire Liquors (5669 Quince Rd)
🌶️ F Lunch, 11-1: @west_cancer (7945 Wolf River Blvd)(1/2) pic.twitter.com/TxGshUGxyW
— New Wing Order (@newwingorder) May 18, 2020
Video tour of the new overflow facility at 495 Union, the former CA building converted into a COVID-19 hospital:
On tour of former CA building pic.twitter.com/NnRAGkDSrQ
— Daniel Connolly 〽️ (@DanielConnolly) May 18, 2020
College football news: COVID-19 athletic department budget cutbacks at Power 5 schools could spell the end of buy games, where a big-name university pays a lesser-known institution to play a game at the big-name team’s stadium, with the smaller school getting an appearance fee well into six figures and in some cases seven. These games make up a huge chunk of smaller schools’ athletic revenue. The most well-known buy game in recent times happened in August 2019, when the Tennessee Vols paid Georgia State almost a million dollars to come to Neyland Stadium and beat them.
Tennessee’s free cloth masks were tested for effectiveness and were found to be nearly as effective as surgical masks.
FiveThirtyEight looks at a real-life situation that illustrates the challenges of the 2020 pandemic: What do you do when you’re a first-time landlord who needs rent money to pay the mortgage, but your tenants are broke?
Back tomorrow with more.