MEMPHIS, Tennessee —
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said as the state starts phased reopening we still need to practice social distancing. Shelby County, which is currently one of the counties excluded from the reopening, continues to lead the state in the number of reported cases.
Infectious disease Dr. Manoj Jain explained the governor is waiting to start reopening some of Tennessee's counties based on the number of cases. He said this hyper-local plan will take developments county by county and even city by city.
"Each city is going to be very different, and we will be working on plans to determine when each will be opening up," Manoj said.
As of April 20th, Shelby County has 1,839 cases. Jain said as we begin phased reopening, life will not return to normal. We need to follow social distancing guidelines if we want to avoid another exponential rise in cases of a virus far more contagious and deadly than the flu.
"We still haven’t seen a consistent decline in Memphis, and so it’s going to be important for us to keep our distance to not allow the virus to not feed on our social interactions," Jain said.
Ben Smith, chef, and owner of Tsunami Restaurant in Cooper-Young, would love to open up his business again, but when it's safe. He feels it's too premature and said many of his fellow restaurant owners agree.
"I think it’s based more on economics than on public health, so I’m not comfortable with the decision," Smith said.
He's been following health experts throughout the course of the pandemic and utilizes their recommendations. Smith said public health should take priority over the economy right now. Even when phased reopening eventually starts in Shelby County, he thinks customers and owners will play it safe and still not choose dine-in so close to other people.
"We shouldn’t rush this even though our livelihoods depend on doing business," Smith said. "I think we’re probably doing more business now with take-out and delivery and curbside than we would be doing if we were to open for in-house business."
Mayor Jim Strickland's office will work with the governor's office on how to safely reopen the state's major metropolitan areas.
"We’re in the process of looking at everything right now, but do not have a timeline," a spokesperson for Mayor Strickland's office said.
"Our local economic recovery group is looking at phased reopening and the best and safest ways to do that. We’re also a part of the governor’s economic recovery group and the big four city’s economic recovery group working on the same issues."
(Click here for the White House's plan.)