MEMPHIS, Tennessee — A Shelby County infectious disease specialist says he is not surprised Tennessee set a new record high of COVID -19 cases in a day. There are 3,314 new cases since Sunday.
Dr. Manoj Jain says if things don't slow down here in Shelby County, we could be having 700 new cases a day by this fall.
"What we need to do is not continue with this present trajectory," said Dr. Jain.
Jain, who is with the Shelby County COVID-19 task force, said everyone needs to make an effort to help slow the virus. Jain says if nothing is done, models show a substantial rise in Shelby County COVID- 19 numbers.
"We are going to begin to see, we are at maybe 200-300 cases a day, to maybe 400-500 cases a day and even as high as 600 and 700 cases per day by the October or November range," said Jain.
Jain says people are not taking precautions they were a month or so ago, which is causing the numbers to rise. Last week, the Shelby County Health Department put restrictions on restaurants and bars, Jain says we should see the impact of that in 2 to 4 weeks.
There has been talk in the community about a possible rollback to phase one Jain's thoughts on that?
"Rather than talking about a broad lockdown, we need to be talking about targeted focused interventions," said Jain.
Jain says if people wear masks and social distance the virus will slow. His advice for the anti-maskers?
"This not masking for a lifetime, this is masking for a particular time. Think of this almost like the winter season: what do we do? We put on a hat or scarf. We put things to protect ourselves from the cold," said Jain.
Doctor Jain says masking and distancing shouldn't be made a political or philosophical issue. It's really about protecting ourselves and others.