T… I… G… E… R… S… Both the Memphis Tigers football team and men’s basketball team have home games today. The football Tigers host East Carolina at the Liberty Bowl at 11 AM, and the basketball Tigers host North Carolina Central at FedExForum at 6 PM. ESPN+ is your TV outlet for both games.
The Grizzlies dropped to 6-6, and sole possession of 8th place in the Western Conference, with a home loss to the Phoenix Suns last night. Tonight the Grizzlies hit the road for a 6 PM game at New Orleans. Bally Sports SE will be your TV outlet.
Governor Lee allowed bills to become law yesterday that have several important implications for Shelby County:
- Power is consolidated under the governor during states of emergency. The six local health departments that operate independently of the state are mostly stripped of their autonomy. That means it’ll be harder for the Shelby County Health Department to impose stupid restaurant restrictions like no bar seating and food requirement when purchasing alcohol.
- Governments are banned from imposing mask mandates, except during times of extremely high community transmission. According to the CA, “extremely high” is defined as 1000 new cases per day per 100K. (The highest we saw during our most extreme surge thus far was about 125 new cases per day per 100K. At 1000 cases/day/100K, the wait times to get into a hospital would be a matter of weeks.)
- Private businesses are still allowed to mandate masks. The governor/legislature wanted to ban this too, but eased off on the advice of the business community.
- Governments and private businesses are banned from issuing vaccine mandates for employees and customers. So I guess this will be the end of the CLEAR Health Pass at FedExForum.
Ugh. I mostly don’t like the new rules. The inability to issue a mask mandate could make a fifth surge, if there is one, to spiral out of control. The CDC recommends even fully vaccinated people mask up when there are more than 50 new cases/day/100K in the community, and most likely I will keep an eye on that number and act accordingly. COVID Act Now has us at only 11.1 cases/day/100K this morning, so it’s safe for fully vaccinated people not to mask.
I’m a lot less likely to attend a Grizzlies or Tigers game this season without the protection of the CLEAR Health Pass. It’s a shame because the Grizzlies are a fantastic organization that did everything they could to protect their fans.
For those in the service and hospitality industry: Ben Yay’s has a deal for you on Thursday nights. From 10 PM to 1 AM, you can get $7 green tea shots, $5 Jameson, Jager, and Rumple Minze, and $2 off drafts, wines, and well drinks.
There will be a free Zumba class in the lot next to the Edge Motor Museum today at 1. David Quarles will lead the class. Registration is required and the first 30 registrants get an Edge-themed gift.
There will be a free rumba dance class in Fourth Bluff Park tonight from 6 to 7. It’s part of the Fall Back Dance Series presented by Cat’s Ballroom.
All right. I’ve had all I can stand of this laptop’s trackpad for one morning. Back tomorrow.