MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As Shelby County COVID-19 numbers continue to soar, the health department director is getting a lot questions from county commissioners.
Many want to know about proposed fines against businesses and the strained hospital systems. But another hot topic is millions of dollars for COVID response and whether the money was turned down and why.
At the Shelby County Commission meeting, health department director Dr. Alisa Haushalter was back on the hot seat.
Commissioners are seeking answers as to whether the county refused millions of dollars from the city of Memphis for COVID reponse.
“I know the reason the money was not accepted is, it didn’t make economic sense to essentially have zero sum balance through all of the contracting processes when we needed to get to the work,” Haushalter said.
There were also questions about hospital bed availability during the pandemic and recent surge of COVID cases.
“I’m seeing reports there are only 15 ICU beds available, and we talked about that and that number changes daily. Can you tell us where we are?” Commissioner Tami Sawyer said.
Haushalter said, “We need ambulances to transport people who’ve been victims of gunshot wounds. We need to transport people who’ve heart attacks and strokes in a very timely manner.”
Haushalter says the public and the health department must work together.
“We have to do everything we can to bring the numbers down so the systems aren’t as overwhelmed and that’s everything from ambulance service to emergency room to the ICU beds as well,” Haushalter said.
To better help meet the community’s needs, a health advisory board had been proposed. Commissioners wanted to know what happened to it?
“Several months back we voted on a health board to work in conjunction with the health department. What’s the status?” Commissioner Mikell Lowery sasked.
Haushalter says the board was approved, but she felt it was best to delay its start until January in light of challenges from the state.
“There is legislature at the state level to that is designed to remove the authority of local health boards to make them only advisory. For us, it wouldn’t affect the new board, but to also limit the authority of health department and health officer during the pandemic,” Haushalter said.
And as for possible citations with $50 fines to those who violate the health directive, Haushalter was also asked how inspectors issue warnings, and whether they give businesses adequate time to reply before closing them.
“There’s a lack of consistency. I’m interested to know is the warning in writing and is there a time period for compliance?” Commissioner Brandon Morrison asked.
Haushalter replied, “The bottom line is we focus on threat to the public’s health in making a decision to either give a warning or to close or in this case the same would apply to the citation.”
Commissioner Van Turner amended the ordinance to allow the health department to issue citations with a $50 fine for each violation of the health directive.
It would also limit the citations to businesses or those organizing a gathering. A third and final reading on the ordinance will be Monday.
