By Thomas Sellers Jr.
As the seconds tick away, the cases of coronavirus/COVID-19 continue to grow across the world and United States.
The concerns of the pandemic have brought historic measures in closures in New Jersey, New York and parts of California. Closer to home in Millington, Memphis and the Mid-South, civil state of emergencies have been declared to help fight against the spread of coronavirus.
Last week the first COVID-19 case in Millington was reported infecting a staff member assigned to the Navy Personnel Command. The staff member tested positive for the novel coronavirus last Friday.
According to The Navy Times, the individual first began showing symptoms on March 18, and was tested at Baptist East Memorial Hospital in Memphis. The staff member is now on self-quarantine and is following the protocol instituted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Within hours, Millington Mayor Terry Jones released an official Civil State of Emergency for Millington.
“Millington Mayor Terry Jones joins other municipalities and unincorporated Shelby County by declaring a Civil Emergency in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. This order shall take effect at midnight, March 21, 2020. The order prohibits the on-site consumption of food and beverage at restaurants, cafes, coffeehouses and other establishments that offer food or beverage for on-site consumption. Nothing in the order prohibits establishments from providing food delivery services, window service, walk-up service or drive-up service. Bars, taverns and other establishments whose primary business is offering alcoholic beverages for on-premise consumption are order closed effective midnight March 21. All gyms and exercise facilities are ordered closed effective midnight March 21. This Civil Order is not applicable to grocery stores, pharmacies, convenience stores, gas stations, retail stores, and charitable food distributions sites. However, on-site consumption of food and beverage at these locations is prohibited. The Civil Order authorizes the Millington Police Department to enforce this order. The order may be viewed in its entirety at www.millingtontn.gov”
Schools are likely to stay closed going deep into April. Educators and students were concerned about issues like possibly having to make up missed days. Tennessee lawmakers passed an official ruling last Thursday to relieve the concerns of teachers, principals, students and others involved with public schools. State lawmakers passed a bill waiving several requirements for all Tennessee schools in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the recent tornadoes in Middle Tennessee.
The bill includes the following changes to requirements: allow schools to end their school year without 180 days of instruction, suspend the requirement for the 2019-20 spring administration of the TNReady and end-of-course assessments, schools and districts would be allowed to continue with testing if they choose, but none would be required and teacher evaluations, student final grades and school district assessments would be unaffected by any testing, unless including a score leads to a higher grade.
Monday the city of Memphis was first to issue a ‘Safer at Home Order’ in Shelby County.
“To further combat the spread of COVID-19, the City of Memphis will issue a Safer at Home Order effective 6 p.m. on March 24, 2020 through midnight April 7, 2020 — directing all residents of Memphis to stay inside their homes, and immediately limit all movement outside of their homes beyond what is absolutely necessary to take care of essential needs. City residents will be required to stay inside their homes unless they are engaged in certain “essential activities.”
