Yesterday Mayor Strickland extended Phase 2 of the Back to Business reopening plan by more than a week, to June 16. With 190 new cases reported yesterday, Shelby County Health Officer Dr. Bruce Randolph called the numbers “alarming” and said “we don’t want to go back” and that it was up to the public to wear face masks to ensure that we don’t.
Dr. Randolph attributed the rise in cases to “community transmission in general” and not to clustering in areas like jails or to events like Memorial Day. He said that if the increasing trend continues, the health department will consider mandating that everyone wear a mask in public.
Dr. Randolph announced that health-friendly businesses, ones that require all people who enter (employees and customers) to wear a mask, will be listed on the health department website. Good way to get a little free publicity and let your customers know they’ll be protected against the virus when they come in.
Rizzo’s by Michael Patrick has reopened for dining inside. To ensure everyone’s safety, he has put rules in place, including:
- You must get your temperature checked upon entering, and if your temperature is 100.4F or higher you will be asked to leave.
- You have to have a face mask on at all times when you are away from your table – when you come in, when you get up to go smoke or use the restroom.
- No tables of more than 4, except for two in the lobby set up for 6. Customers are asked not to move tables together. Tables are spaced 6 feet apart.
Memphis Food & Wine Festival is calling off their 2020 festival. The event was scheduled for October 17, but thanks to the coronavirus that date is now Saturday of Music Fest. The food and wine festival will be back “bigger and better than ever” in 2021.
Comma Comedians who perform at restaurants and breweries around town will have a comedy show online on Zoom this evening from 8 to 9.
Memphis River Parks Partnership will hold a Tom Lee Park Engagement Pop-Up tonight to share information about the new design proposal.
Blind Bear trivia is on tonight for a 6 PM curfew-adjusted start time.
Downtown Walgreens now has all its windows boarded up. It is open for business, however.
I hate to sound like an alarmist, and I pray this scenario never comes to pass, but…
What’s your plan, Stan?
Three of the four officers involved in the killing of George Floyd have still not been charged. Worst-case scenario, suppose the DA finds insufficient evidence to charge them with murder, manslaughter, or negligent homicide. People are going to be angry and there could be riots. If that happens:
- If you live Downtown and work in another part of the city, what’s your plan to get home?
- If you have kids in day care, what’s your plan to pick them up and get them to safety?
- Do you have food in the house to last several days, as well as other essential supplies including the Holy Grail of supplies, toilet paper?
- If you live in a ground-floor apartment or condo, what’s your plan if rioting comes to your neighborhood?
- If you own a business, what’s your plan for getting your customers and employees out safely?
- If you normally park your vehicle on the street, what’s your plan to keep it from being vandalized?
Might be a good idea to download a national news app and enable notifications, so you will know the fate of those cops as soon as it happens.
I’ll end this post with something I saw on social media yesterday that makes a lot of sense. People say
“It’s horrible that black people are being killed, but we must not allow businesses to be vandalized”
When what they need to do is reverse it and say
“It’s horrible that businesses are being vandalized, but we must not allow the killing of black people”
Back tomorrow with more news, or later today possibly.