MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Those with the Shelby County COVID-19 Joint Task Force Thursday outlined a mixed bag of the latest trends, as the area deals with the late summer Delta variant surge.
The good news: as of Thursday, there were 641 hospitalized in the Memphis area with COVID, including 190 in the ICU. That is down from the record highs in 701 and 721 total area COVID patients the past two Thursdays.
There are also 27 children hospitalized, including 7 in the ICU - figures that stayed relatively stable in recent weeks.
The bad news: Shelby County Health Director Dr. Michelle Taylor said positivity rate this week is at 23.4%, up from 19.3% last week.
Dr. Taylor added that 40.7% of Shelby County population is now fully vaccinated, making up 381,386 people.
"We know that we have a high infection and we know we have a relatively low vaccination rate. And all those things put together is what we are putting out to help people understand what their level of risk is," Dr. Taylor said.
The health director said at this point, there are no plans to tweak the health directive before it expires September 30th.
"We are not shutting anything down right now. The health order stands as it is, but we are encouraging you, stressing, imploring that you continue to protect yourselves as much as possible," Dr. Taylor said. "Right now we are not putting any other measures in place. It doesn't matter if it's a large event or a restaurant, we are not putting any other measures in place right now, but nothing is off the table."
Doug McGowen with the City of Memphis said the Germantown Baptist Church vaccine site will re-open soon, to coordinate with the expecting upcoming release of booster shots for certain groups.
The task force is also contemplating the opening of a site in Whitehaven on certain days.
COVID testing sites in Shelby County also added lanes to handle demand and McGowen said wait times fell dramatically after the first morning hour.