(If you never owned a CB radio, you probably didn’t get the headline)
I turned in early last night, and therefore missed a text from a friend of mine. My response might be useful to others, so I will respond here.
It’s 10:45 [PM] and the party bikes are going full volume at Main and Union. Is that allowed?
According to what I’ve heard in recent COVID-19 task force press conferences, party pedal bikes are allowed to operate as of Health Directive No. 12 which allowed bars (limited-services restaurants) and other venues serving alcohol to reopen. However, I specifically remember county health officer Dr. Bruce Randolph saying
- No alcohol should be consumed while customers are riding the bike
- There should be no singing
- There should be no yelling
If you witness violations of these regulations, get out your phone and get it on video, with sound, and send it to the Shelby County Health Department.
Also in COVID news: Race organizers, please keep your runners social distanced before the race begins! Yesterday I received a message from a Downtown business owner. There was a race happening not far from her business, and during the pre-race registration there was almost no social distancing and masking. Both she and her husband, co-owners of the business, are of the age that puts them in a high risk category for coronavirus. Out of concerns that runners would come in their shop, and bring COVID with them, they closed their shop early.
You remember Friday when the media reported that Trump was admitted to the hospital “merely as a precautionary measure?” Well, now we are learning that his blood oxygen level dropped dangerously low Friday and Trump was hospitalized because of concern over that measure. We were only told that once Trump recovered to the point that his oxygen levels were back to normal and he had no fever. Come on media and White House spokespeople, do your jobs. This is not North Korea and our head of state is not Kim Jong Un.
A parade organized by supporters of Trump proceeded as planned yesterday, starting in Downtown Memphis and crossing the I-55 bridge into Arkansas.
Attorney General Barr will not quarantine despite exposure to the coronavirus. IDIOT.
The Memphis Tigers gave up any chance they had to return to a New Year’s Six Bowl, if such a thing event exists this season, with a 30-27 loss at SMU yesterday.
Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Janis Joplin.
How bout them Hogs! They scored a 21-14 victory over 16th-ranked Mississippi State yesterday.
The International Downtown Association will present the Downtown Memphis Commission its Downtown Achievement Pinnacle Award this month for DMC’s Open on Main initiative. The DMC leases vacant storefronts on Main and subleases them to business wanting to test the Downtown waters before they consider opening a permanent location.
FINALLY I found a website that reports the reproduction rate of the virus in Shelby County: Covid Act Now. Thanks to Omer Yusuf of the DM whose article today contained the link. Man, that link is going on my bookmarks bar! All kinds of good info. You can even sign up for emails when there are significant changes to COVID-19 data in your state or county.
Speaking of great, independent COVID-19 information, here’s James Aycock’s weekly wrap-up Twitter thread from yesterday.
If you’ve missed FreeWorld this year, you can catch them tonight at 6 at Railgarten.
That’s it for this post. Now it’s time to do some writing for Medium. I have two topics ready to go, several more to mine for ideas, and my #1 writing assistant standing on my desk to help. Back tomorrow with more news.