Thread by @Local24Brad

Just in: @ShelbyTNHealth reports 342 new COVID-19 cases in Shelby County. That's second highest in month of October and second highest since 8/8 overall. Last three days: 212, 287 and 342 in Shelby County.

Overall positivity went up from 11.36% two weeks ago to 11.49% today in Shelby County.

Seven-day COVID-19 case average in Shelby County went up from 120.6 two weeks ago to 195.6, 14-day average spiked from 122.3 to 181.7. That's a 62% and 49% surge respectively in two weeks. @ShelbyTNHealth

They'll be the weekly Tuesday COVID-19 Joint Task Force Briefing at noon. I'll live tweet; @LocalMemphis will live stream.

Should be a lot of notable topics on the board at the briefing; fall festival/Halloween safety reminders, a new health directive POTENTIALLY outlining new changes? We will find out at noon.

About that time.

.@ShelbyTNHealth: The fall surge has reached Shelby County. Parts of Bartlett and Collierville continues to see uptick in COVID-19 cases. Health director: our hospital capacity is there but is being strained, in part because of COVID-19 uptick in surrounding counties.

.@ShelbyTNHealth director: state trends shifting significantly in last two weeks, TN is now in “red zone”, positivity in TN is 11th highest in country. It’s critical we do everything we can do to steady the course. We are at critical moment in time. You must mask wherever you go.

.@ShelbyTNHealth director: money talks. Frequent businesses that protect their customers and employers and are following the rules. Tell a manager if a business is not following the rules.

.@ShelbyTNHealth director: limit fall gatherings and make sure Halloween candy is wrapped. Have events where items have limited touching. She reminds the community. Halloween/trick or treating is NOT canceled in Shelby County.

.@ShelbyTNHealth director: we are at a place where individual choice is going to make a difference. There is transmission occurring in very small gatherings, work settings. We will look at data if any specific issues would POSSIBLY warrant some restrictions added/brought back.

.@ShelbyTNHealth director: I have not asked @GovBillLee or expressed my support for a statewide mask mandate but we know masking works here and surrounding counties.

.@ShelbyTNHealth’s @das647: Arkansas has set record COVID-19 hospitalizations and @tatereeves ordered mask mandate returned to DeSoto County. Our hospital predictions for mid-November we have ALREADY REACHED this week.

.@das647: let’s refocus on the basic COVID-19 prevention measures. We committed this in late summer and numbers went down. We’ve lost our focus and need to recommit to these principles.

.@das647 urges surrounding Mid-South counties to follow these safety measures (even without mask mandates) because many of those patients who get COVID-19 and get really sick will more than likely end up in Shelby County hospitals.

.@das647 said transmission has been widespread in many different settings, not pinpointed to specific locale. They are continuing to crunch data to pinpoint that possibly and intervene in a positive way.

.@das647 wraps up news conference by reminding public to get their flu shots NOW. A lot of new info to get to at 5 & 6 @LocalMemphis.