Strickland: We have dropped our guard
Memphis mayor not sure why public is less COVID vigilant
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland described social distancing and maskwearing as a light switch that the public turned off when Memphis and Shelby County entered Phase 2 of its economic reopening plan in mid-may, acknowledging the rising COVID-19 case rate and hospitalizations.
“We handled it really well for many weeks ... and even through phase 1. And, then, it’s almost like a light-switch went off, and we stopped — we, collectively, not any individuals — stopped taking it seriously,” Strickland said. “Maybe they were worn out because it’s not easy and maybe the numbers were so good we took it for granted. We have an opportunity now, especially with this campaign to mask-up, to really restart the vigilance and get more control over pushing down this virus.”
Strickland said he was unsure why the public had eased up on social distancing and mask-wearing in Memphis, but noted the city and Shelby County’s lack of vigilance wasn’t dissimilar from the rest of the U.S.
The Memphis mayor spoke Monday morning at a news conference in Whitehaven that touted the launch of the “Mask Up and Live” campaign — an initiative being pushed by Memphis-area legislators to encourage mask-wearing among the city’s majority Black population.
The initiative was announced six days after the Memphis City Council passed an ordinance that mandates wearing masks in certain public and private spaces. Strickland has not yet signed the ordinance, but he said he will as soon as it is delivered to him.
The city of Memphis is still working out how it will be enforced, Strickland said. The ordinance’s language describes violations as a public nuisance, which is a Class C misdemeanor, but only punishes violators with warnings.
However, Strickland said that government enforcement would not be effective in combating the virus on its own.
“We need to do better. We will enforce the ordinance, but we are not going to succeed through enforcement alone. We’ve got to change the hearts and minds of individuals. We don’t have enough code enforcement officers or enough police officers. We’ve got to get people to do it because they feel it’s the right thing to do,” Strickland said.
The questions of Strickland and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris Monday are after weeks of rising COVID-19 case rates — the county, amid some tweaking of how cases are reported, has set day-over-day increase records several times in the past week. And, since Shelby County entered Phase 2, the positivity rate — the percentage of people testing positive for the virus — has more than doubled.
For the week of May 17 to 23, the positivity rate was 5.6 percent. Last week, June 14 through June 20, it was 11.7 percent, according to the Shelby County Health Department. Harris, when asked about the possibility of going back to Phase 1 of reopening, highlighted the positivity rate.
“What’s really going on is an analysis, an analysis of whether or not people are trying to comply and trying to maintain safety,” said Harris. “One of the analyses I like to recommend is the positivity rate ... Raw numbers can sometimes not be as revealing as some people believe and we can expect raw numbers to go up. That’s not the only way to analyze whether or not everybody is working very hard or staying safe.”
Hospitalizations have also increased since Phase 2 started. However, Strickland said he believes the area remains far away from having to utilize the overflow hospital on Union Avenue that the Army Corps of Engineers completed in May. Continued growth in hospitalizations would be a major concern, Strickland said.
“This is just my interpretation. A month ago, we had 100 to 120 hospitalizations a day. Now, we are at 200 to 220, so that is an increase,” Strickland said. “If we stay that way [at about 200 to 220] for the next six months, I think everyone will be satisfied. But, if we continue to increase, like over the last month, over the next month and the month after that ... that’s what is worrisome. And that’s why this mask-up campaign is so important. We have to stop it where it is.”
Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.