Good Monday morning from Memphis, which could receive a dusting of snow today, according to weather prognosticators. We'll have analysis of the Bluff City's hottest news on this chilly day, but first — here's a quick look at what's happening right now...
Quick hits: What's happening this week
Memphis and the rest of the U.S. continues to see the fallout from last week's riot in Washington, D.C., in which some supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol. A Tennessee man suspected of being "the zip-tie guy" (that is, the guy who was photographed wandering the Capitol with plastic hand-restraints) was being held in jail in Nashville Sunday. Also, the Arkansas man who was photographed sitting in Nancy Pelosi's chair and who claims (questionably) to be a former firefighter "out of Memphis" was arrested and charged Friday. The FBI is also currently looking for other suspects in West Tennessee.
Shelby County is currently setting records for COVID-19 hospitalizations, even as medical experts say conditions could get worse over the next 2-4 weeks before they get better. Meanwhile, Shelby County plans to resume vaccinations tomorrow. Subscribers can check out our in-depth look at local challenges to vaccination.
Memphis Police Department officer Patric Ferguson made national headlines Sunday, and not in a good way: he was arrested for allegedly kidnapping and killing a 30-year-old man while on duty. MPD hasn't disclosed a possible motive.
Last week, Shelby County reached a tragic milestone: 1,000 deaths due to COVID-19. In a special report, we looked at some of the people we lost.
How the connected get vaccine early
After receiving the much-coveted COVID-19 vaccine in December, Shelby County and its medical partners began inoculating the people who need the vaccine the most, including health care workers, first-responders, and people with a higher risk of dying.
But another group is getting the vaccine as well: people who have the right connections.
Here's how it works. Each day, a certain number of doses are thawed. If all of the doses haven't been used by the end of their life cycle, rather than let the vaccine go to waste, the vaccine is given to people who perhaps don't fall under the priority category. One example: Regional One gave leftover vaccine doses to non-priority physicians and to its "One Club," which is a group of volunteers whose members include donors and the wife of the hospital's CEO, as our Corinne Kennedy reports in a subscribers-only story.
No one wants the vaccine to go to waste, of course. But what's concerning is that. despite having months to prepare, Shelby County doesn't have a plan to ensure leftover doses are fairly and ethically distributed based on need as opposed to who you know. Perhaps this is naive, but is it too much to ask that leftover vaccine goes to the people who are next in line? People like teachers, childcare workers, and those older than 65.
Inoculating people without regard for who is next in line can be a deadly oversight. Just take a look at the latest COVID-19 statistics: 33 people died over the weekend.
As Corinne points out, this isn't an issue unique to Shelby County. When Jackson unexpectedly received 200 vaccine doses that had to be used within six hours, the doses were given to politicians, relatives of hospital executives, and others. Florida Sen. Rick Scott has called for an investigation into reports vaccines meant for residents of a nursing home and assisted-living facility instead went to donors and board members.
Former Memphis City Council member Tajuan Stout Mitchell — who just lost a longtime friend, former Memphis Fire Department deputy director Claude Talford, to COVID-19 — told me she knows of people in the non-priority category who received the vaccine early because of their relationships with people who were administering the vaccine.
She said she's currently in conversations with elected officials about the need for a uniform plan for distributing leftover doses, so stay tuned for updates as we get them.
Explaining COVID worries in one graph
Shelby County is bracing for the arrival of a new, more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus that was found last week in Chattanooga, our Sam Hardiman reports.
Dr. Manoj Jain, a key member for the Memphis and Shelby County COVID-19 joint task-force, said the county will take "very aggressive" action to contain B117, especially when it comes to contact tracing. The county wants to stop this more infectious strain from becoming widespread, obviously, but the bigger reason has to do with hospital capacity.
The county could see a large number of infections and hospitalizations over the next two to four weeks, and perhaps longer, even without throwing B117 into the mix, per Jain.
County unveils new relief program
The Shelby County Commission could vote today on a new program proposed by Mayor Lee Harris that would offer $1,000 checks to restaurant workers affected by COVID-19.
Roughly 2,500 workers could be eligible for the program, known as Share the Tab II. The previous iteration of Share the Tab provided financial support to owners of restaurants, bars and clubs who had been forced to close their businesses.
In a statement this morning, Harris pointed out that the county is trying to meet a desperate need that he'd hoped would have been met by the federal government:
Although dining rooms are still technically open, the fall surge of COVID-19 has forced our community, like virtually every other community around the country, to implement additional protections. It has forced consumers, like our family, to make different decisions about eating out. As a result, this industry has borne a very steep cost and endured unbelievable hardship.
We were hopeful there would be federal action, in this latest round of stimulus negotiations, to specifically support this industry or to support state and local governments, which could, in turn, could help the industry. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Now it’s all on us, at the local level.
Keep at eye on our website for updates about the vote.
The county isn't the only one working locally to relieve the financial pressures on restaurant workers. The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, which has been collecting donations for COVID-19 relief, last Wednesday awarded $165,000 to Welcome To Memphis and the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association (MIFA) to help these workers. A second, larger round of grants is expected to be awarded by January's end.
In other news...
For subscribers: Should rookie Desmond Bane start for the Memphis Grizzlies? Our Evan Barnes looks at the (very good) question. Also for subscribers: Our Khari Thompson points out that Whitehaven has players on both sides of the upcoming Alabama-Ohio title game. Also also for subscribers: Don't miss the latest iteration of our Jason Munz' always informative Memphis basketball mailbag. (Not a subscriber? Please consider becoming one.)
Our Daniel Connolly and Jason Munz covered a peaceful — if misleading — pro-Trump rally Sunday in Hernando.
Our Laura Testino reports on how COVID-19 tore through a Memphis family.
The NFL gave Memphis criminal justice advocacy group Just City a $200,000 grant, our Sarah Macaraeg reports.
Rural officials are renewing calls for the speedy completion of the Memphis Regional Megasite, which is between Memphis and Jackson, per the Jackson Sun.
Several Tennessee lawmakers had their offices and homes raided by the FBI last week, including former House speaker Glen Casada. Here's what we know so far.
The Fadeout: Bartholomew Jones
Fading us out today, here's the latest music video — to "Stone Soup," a song from his 2020 EP "Sunkissed" — from coffee-loving Memphis artist Bartholomew Jones...