WEBVTT 00:00.234 --> 00:01.401  - (female announcer)   Production funding for 00:01.401 --> 00:02.936  Behind The Headlines 00:02.936 --> 00:04.838  is made possible in part by 00:04.838 --> 00:07.007  the WKNO Production Fund, 00:07.007 --> 00:09.176  the WWKNO Endowment Fund, 00:09.176 --> 00:10.944  and by viewers like you. 00:10.944 --> 00:12.212  Thank you. 00:12.212 --> 00:15.916 - How Memphis will reopen, tonight on Behind The Headlines. 00:16.850 --> 00:19.586 [intense music] 00:33.233 --> 00:35.035 I'm Eric Barnes with The Daily Memphian. 00:35.035 --> 00:36.336 Thanks for joining us as we continue 00:36.336 --> 00:38.739 to do Behind The Headlines remotely. 00:38.739 --> 00:41.174 I am joined tonight by Doug McGowen, 00:41.174 --> 00:43.310 Chief Operating Officer for the City of Memphis. 00:43.310 --> 00:45.779 Doug, thanks for joining us from City Hall. 00:45.779 --> 00:47.214 - Glad to be here, Eric. 00:47.214 --> 00:48.982 - Along with Bill Dries, 00:48.982 --> 00:51.218 reporter with The Daily Memphian. 00:51.218 --> 00:54.922 Doug, so let's start with we're in this 00:54.922 --> 00:57.991 phase of potential reopening, 00:57.991 --> 01:00.527 and the city and county and the suburbs have 01:00.527 --> 01:03.497 laid out a framework, the Back to Business framework. 01:03.497 --> 01:04.898 There's a website that has a 01:04.898 --> 01:06.500 tremendous amount of information, 01:06.500 --> 01:09.102 Backtobusiness.memphistn.gov 01:09.102 --> 01:12.606 Who though is in charge? 01:12.606 --> 01:14.074 I understand and we'll get into this idea 01:14.074 --> 01:15.475 that there's not a date, 01:15.475 --> 01:17.077 it's data, as the mayor said. 01:17.077 --> 01:19.746 And that it's a series of metrics that 01:19.746 --> 01:21.281 as we hit them, we can open more 01:21.281 --> 01:23.817 and if we miss them we have to kind of pull back. 01:23.817 --> 01:25.052 So we'll talk about that some more, 01:25.052 --> 01:27.120 but fundamentally, who's in charge 01:27.120 --> 01:29.323 of making that decision that we've 01:29.323 --> 01:31.892 hit the metrics you all have laid out? 01:31.892 --> 01:33.627 - Sure, well I think that it's important 01:33.627 --> 01:35.362 to say that we've had a great cooperation 01:35.362 --> 01:37.731 of this coalition of mayors from across 01:37.731 --> 01:39.933 Shelby County and actually, our region. 01:39.933 --> 01:42.436 Everybody has aligned and has the intention of 01:42.436 --> 01:44.037 moving forward at the same time 01:44.037 --> 01:46.273 with the same kinds of restrictions in place 01:46.273 --> 01:48.275 and the same kind of protocols in place. 01:48.275 --> 01:51.845 If you were to wind the clock all the way back 01:51.845 --> 01:54.448 to what the authorities are for each individual mayor, 01:54.448 --> 01:56.116 they all have an individual authority 01:56.116 --> 01:57.918 and could make their decisions on their own. 01:57.918 --> 02:00.187 The Health Officer could make his decision on his own, 02:00.187 --> 02:02.889 the governor has a certain level of authority, as well. 02:02.889 --> 02:05.058 But what we're trying to do here is to have 02:05.058 --> 02:06.660 everybody look at the same data 02:06.660 --> 02:08.495 and come to the same conclusion, 02:08.495 --> 02:11.632 and make their decisions together 02:11.632 --> 02:13.800 so that they use their collective authority 02:13.800 --> 02:17.204 for what we would say is a comprehensive 02:17.204 --> 02:19.006 approach to reopening Shelby County 02:19.006 --> 02:21.808 and the areas immediately around us. 02:23.276 --> 02:26.279 - Are you worried, though, that with so many people, 02:26.279 --> 02:29.549 elected officials with their own constituents, 02:29.549 --> 02:32.819 a tremendous amount of pressure from some 02:32.819 --> 02:35.422 people to stay closed, from other people to reopen, 02:35.422 --> 02:37.290 business owners particularly, and it's just a 02:37.290 --> 02:39.526 tremendous pressured situation. 02:39.526 --> 02:42.829 That that collective decision making will break down? 02:44.197 --> 02:46.566 - I think that's always a concern and it's always a risk, 02:46.566 --> 02:49.870 but I look at what people do rather than 02:49.870 --> 02:54.341 what could possibly happen and so far we have been aligned. 02:54.341 --> 02:57.044 We've been at this for almost six weeks now, 02:57.044 --> 03:00.113 and we have had a consistent cooperation 03:00.113 --> 03:03.250 across all of the municipalities in Shelby County, 03:03.250 --> 03:05.352 an even our surrounding counties in 03:05.352 --> 03:07.721 West Memphis, Arkansas, DeSoto County, 03:07.721 --> 03:10.023 Tipton County, Fayette County. 03:10.023 --> 03:11.425 We've had this collective effort, 03:11.425 --> 03:12.826 this coalition of the willing 03:12.826 --> 03:14.227 who are coming together to make sure 03:14.227 --> 03:15.996 we have the best possible outcome here 03:15.996 --> 03:18.198 in Memphis and Shelby County region. 03:19.299 --> 03:20.967 - Last thing before I go to Bill, 03:22.436 --> 03:25.205 again that sense of again looking at the metrics, 03:25.205 --> 03:26.506 and we'll walk through some of those metrics 03:26.506 --> 03:27.641 and try to dive into them a little more. 03:27.641 --> 03:29.076 But that the measurement, 03:29.076 --> 03:32.746 the determination that all the various metrics 03:32.746 --> 03:34.915 have been hit on any given day, 03:34.915 --> 03:37.317 is that the task force getting together 03:37.317 --> 03:39.653 and saying, taking a vote? 03:39.653 --> 03:42.355 Or is it that the numbers are so hard and fast 03:42.355 --> 03:44.591 that it's really, the numbers don't lie. 03:44.591 --> 03:46.159 - Oh, there's really no vote. 03:46.159 --> 03:49.029 What happens is everyday we meet as a joint task force, 03:49.029 --> 03:51.665 we've moved those meetings to three times a week now. 03:51.665 --> 03:53.333 But on that task force call are 03:53.333 --> 03:54.868 all the representatives that I've mentioned, 03:54.868 --> 03:55.836 in addition to the Health Department 03:55.836 --> 03:57.437 and so many other agencies. 03:57.437 --> 03:59.806 There's several hundred people on this call, 03:59.806 --> 04:01.241 including all the hospital systems, 04:01.241 --> 04:04.077 the social network providers, 04:04.077 --> 04:05.846 the Social Service network providers, 04:05.846 --> 04:08.482 and all of the elected officials 04:08.482 --> 04:09.916 as well as their staff members 04:09.916 --> 04:12.719 who are delivering the services each and every day. 04:12.719 --> 04:15.055 We understand that there is pressure, 04:15.055 --> 04:18.592 but that's just one factor that weighs into any decision. 04:18.592 --> 04:20.093 The data is the data, 04:20.093 --> 04:21.895 and so what we're really looking at is to have 04:21.895 --> 04:23.964 a flat or decreasing number of 04:23.964 --> 04:25.866 new cases each and every day, 04:25.866 --> 04:28.335 and we're also looking for a flat or decreasing 04:28.335 --> 04:31.037 number of COVID-related hospitalizations, 04:31.037 --> 04:33.640 particularly in our ICU. 04:33.640 --> 04:35.609 That is one data point that we will look at 04:35.609 --> 04:38.745 to determine whether we are ready to begin moving forward. 04:38.745 --> 04:40.180 But we also have to look at, 04:40.180 --> 04:42.516 as you've heard on the daily press briefings, 04:42.516 --> 04:43.817 we have to look at the capacity 04:43.817 --> 04:45.452 of our hospital system to be ready 04:45.452 --> 04:46.753 to absorb any kind of an uptick 04:46.753 --> 04:48.822 when we do decide to open up, 04:48.822 --> 04:51.024 and the capacity of our public health system 04:51.024 --> 04:52.592 to put enough testing in place 04:52.592 --> 04:55.495 and enough contact tracing investigation 04:55.495 --> 04:58.431 and surveillance capacity in place 04:58.431 --> 04:59.966 to make sure that we have our finger 04:59.966 --> 05:03.136 on the pulse and can tell very quickly if things move up. 05:03.136 --> 05:05.005 At the end of the day, this is a decision 05:05.005 --> 05:07.073 that the health officer and 05:07.073 --> 05:08.975 the elected officials have to make. 05:08.975 --> 05:13.380 There is no formula that says 1+1 equals open, 05:13.380 --> 05:16.683 you really have to take a look at the data 05:16.683 --> 05:21.488 and determine having balanced all of the factors 05:21.488 --> 05:22.856 that are associated with this, 05:22.856 --> 05:24.991 is it safe and proven for us to take 05:24.991 --> 05:27.494 the next step and move into phase one. 05:27.494 --> 05:29.229 There is no easy answer to that, 05:29.229 --> 05:31.264 there is no rote answer to that, 05:31.264 --> 05:33.433 it is an aggregation of the information 05:33.433 --> 05:36.736 that says we have mitigated the risks appropriately, 05:36.736 --> 05:37.971 and the next step is that 05:37.971 --> 05:41.241 we should take... move into phase one. 05:41.241 --> 05:43.877 - All right, let me go to Bill Dries. 05:43.877 --> 05:46.613 - Um, Chief, government and business 05:46.613 --> 05:49.649 and health do intersect, 05:49.649 --> 05:51.284 and they intersect quite often, 05:51.284 --> 05:53.119 but I'd venture to say that they 05:53.119 --> 05:57.324 don't often intersect in this particular way. 05:57.324 --> 06:01.928 How unique is this moment in the life 06:01.928 --> 06:05.131 of the city, in the affairs of the City of Memphis? 06:06.333 --> 06:08.068 - I think it's fair to say that it's a unique 06:08.068 --> 06:10.337 and globally, Bill, that we haven't had 06:10.337 --> 06:12.105 something of this scale and intensity 06:12.105 --> 06:14.874 for more than a hundred years, really, 06:14.874 --> 06:16.910 and so it is very unique for us and the city. 06:16.910 --> 06:19.713 I think for the unprecedented level 06:19.713 --> 06:23.149 of collaboration, cooperation, and information sharing 06:23.149 --> 06:25.919 that we're seeing is something that is quite unique. 06:25.919 --> 06:27.687 The openness and willingness of everybody 06:27.687 --> 06:30.824 to partner, to drop their various perspectives 06:30.824 --> 06:32.993 and come together as one unified team 06:32.993 --> 06:36.863 is relatively unique, but it's also inspiring. 06:36.863 --> 06:39.966 Memphis is a city, as I've said several times, 06:39.966 --> 06:43.670 and there's a book by Sir Peter Hall that says, 06:43.670 --> 06:46.273 "Memphis is a city where anything can be made to happen." 06:46.273 --> 06:49.009 and quite frankly, this is the epitome of that. 06:49.009 --> 06:51.044 I don't know of anyplace else that has 06:51.044 --> 06:53.413 a joint task force that is organized like ours, 06:53.413 --> 06:56.883 that has the number of agencies that are participating, 06:56.883 --> 06:59.286 and a unity of effort like is happening 06:59.286 --> 07:00.587 here in Memphis and Shelby County. 07:00.587 --> 07:02.522 It's something we can all be proud of. 07:02.522 --> 07:04.291 In this unique moment we came together 07:04.291 --> 07:06.359 in the right way so that we can provide 07:06.359 --> 07:08.995 the best possible outcomes for our citizenry. 07:10.196 --> 07:12.699 - The city got some good news this week, 07:12.699 --> 07:17.470 $113.6 million in CARES Act 07:17.470 --> 07:20.140 funding from the federal government, 07:21.574 --> 07:23.810 but there are rules about how this money can be used, 07:23.810 --> 07:26.446 as is usually the case with the federal government. 07:26.446 --> 07:31.217 This cannot be used to fix the holes, 07:31.217 --> 07:34.020 the revenue holes that are coming in the budget 07:34.020 --> 07:36.690 or the revenue hit that the city 07:36.690 --> 07:38.892 has taken in the current fiscal year. 07:38.892 --> 07:41.494 What's that money going to be used for? 07:41.494 --> 07:43.430 - Well that's an excellent question, Bill. 07:43.430 --> 07:47.067 City Council took action just on Tuesday, 07:47.067 --> 07:49.502 as you said we had a budget hole 07:49.502 --> 07:51.004 of about $100 million between 07:51.004 --> 07:52.772 this fiscal year and next fiscal year, 07:52.772 --> 07:53.973 that's what we have forecast. 07:53.973 --> 07:55.775 So we put out to the City Council 07:55.775 --> 07:57.711 that's a problem that we need to solve. 07:57.711 --> 07:59.479 We were hopeful that the federal CARES Act 07:59.479 --> 08:01.181 money could help us with some of that. 08:01.181 --> 08:03.183 The restrictions that are on that money mean 08:03.183 --> 08:04.517 it is going to be very limited 08:04.517 --> 08:07.587 for what we can use it for in our city budget. 08:07.587 --> 08:09.989 It's literally for those extraordinary expenses 08:09.989 --> 08:13.360 that are over and above what we had already budgeted for. 08:13.360 --> 08:15.362 But, there will be some of those revenues 08:15.362 --> 08:17.997 that we can use for those extraordinary actions 08:17.997 --> 08:19.699 that we took that we had not planned 08:19.699 --> 08:22.969 in our budget for this year that ends in July, 08:22.969 --> 08:24.604 and for next year, quite frankly. 08:24.604 --> 08:27.474 There is new work that we're going to be doing 08:27.474 --> 08:29.776 that our folks had not been doing previously 08:29.776 --> 08:32.679 and would be in place of the work that they were doing. 08:32.679 --> 08:34.381 So we're hopeful that we can use 08:34.381 --> 08:38.318 some of that money to help with 08:38.318 --> 08:40.587 our budgeting needs this year and next year, 08:40.587 --> 08:43.089 but it will not be a substantial portion 08:43.089 --> 08:44.991 of that $113 million. 08:46.159 --> 08:48.395 On Tuesday, City Council allocated $10 million, 08:48.395 --> 08:51.197 and rightly so, and we are very thankful 08:51.197 --> 08:53.800 for the cooperation between the City Council 08:53.800 --> 08:55.035 and the administration to do 08:55.035 --> 08:56.836 the right thing for our community, 08:56.836 --> 08:59.939 that will be a helpful inject of cash 08:59.939 --> 09:01.541 for our small businesses, 09:01.541 --> 09:05.545 which was predominantly the purpose of that money, 09:05.545 --> 09:07.981 as well as those social service provisions 09:07.981 --> 09:09.916 for additional food for our individuals 09:09.916 --> 09:12.752 in the community who need that, 09:12.752 --> 09:14.320 for additional testing capacity, 09:14.320 --> 09:16.990 for additional, we could use it 09:16.990 --> 09:18.358 for additional testing capacity, 09:18.358 --> 09:20.427 additional capacity for the health department. 09:20.427 --> 09:23.229 It's not just the city, the county also got 09:23.229 --> 09:25.799 an inject of some of those federal dollars, 09:25.799 --> 09:27.867 so together we are well-resourced 09:27.867 --> 09:29.936 to respond to the COVID pandemic, 09:29.936 --> 09:32.705 but it certainly does not solve our budgetary blows 09:32.705 --> 09:35.208 because it cannot be used for revenue replacement. 09:36.376 --> 09:39.579 - And the $10 million fund, as the Council 09:39.579 --> 09:42.315 was moving toward that in some general way, 09:42.315 --> 09:45.618 you were also looking at a program 09:45.618 --> 09:49.889 that Chattanooga has which is kind of 09:49.889 --> 09:53.093 the model for how the city's going to work on this. 09:53.093 --> 09:54.727 And as I understand it, it's a business 09:54.727 --> 09:57.397 stabilization program that in normal times 09:57.397 --> 10:00.967 has been used in Chattanooga for things like 10:00.967 --> 10:04.170 a street closure that affects a business 10:04.170 --> 10:05.905 or something like that. 10:05.905 --> 10:09.209 Is that kind of what the principal 10:09.209 --> 10:11.811 of this fund will be for Memphis? 10:11.811 --> 10:14.013 - We were asked, obviously, to look at that, 10:14.013 --> 10:16.916 we had been scanning for best practices 10:16.916 --> 10:19.786 or promising practices that once the requirements, 10:19.786 --> 10:21.688 or excuse me, the rules came out for how 10:21.688 --> 10:24.824 that money could be used from the CARES Act, 10:24.824 --> 10:28.194 and so that was one of the practices we landed on. 10:28.194 --> 10:30.730 Quite frankly, I also speak with the other 10:30.730 --> 10:33.633 big four COOs on at least a monthly basis, 10:33.633 --> 10:35.235 and during this pandemic we've been meeting 10:35.235 --> 10:38.605 each and every Wednesday afternoon to compare notes. 10:38.605 --> 10:40.173 One of the notes that we compared 10:40.173 --> 10:43.076 was "How are you going to use the CARES Act money?" 10:43.076 --> 10:46.346 and during that conversation Chattanooga 10:46.346 --> 10:47.480 had mentioned that they had this 10:47.480 --> 10:49.516 business stabilization program. 10:49.516 --> 10:51.584 When City Council started talking about 10:51.584 --> 10:54.020 adding money for that we quickly pivoted 10:54.020 --> 10:55.688 to try to get some details. 10:55.688 --> 10:58.491 I will tell you we're nowhere close to having 10:58.491 --> 10:59.993 the details or the application, 10:59.993 --> 11:01.728 but we will quickly get there. 11:01.728 --> 11:04.531 But it is a model and it showed some promise, 11:04.531 --> 11:07.467 and was affective in the Chattanooga context 11:07.467 --> 11:11.004 so like many cities do, borrowing and adapting 11:11.004 --> 11:12.672 to your own context is important 11:12.672 --> 11:14.908 and it's an easy way to get, 11:14.908 --> 11:17.443 rather that creating something out of whole cloth, 11:17.443 --> 11:19.412 we thought that would be a good approach. 11:19.412 --> 11:21.981 Can't say at the end that it will be 11:21.981 --> 11:23.950 an immediate parallel or an exact copy 11:23.950 --> 11:26.286 that we will adapt to our own context 11:26.286 --> 11:28.421 but it's a good starting point for us. 11:28.421 --> 11:31.157 - And before I send it back to Eric, 11:33.826 --> 11:36.229 there's been a lot of infrastructure that's gone up, 11:36.229 --> 11:40.967 there is, for lack of the better term on my part, 11:40.967 --> 11:43.336 an overflow medical facility that's now 11:43.336 --> 11:46.940 at 495 Union that was built 11:46.940 --> 11:48.675 in a tremendously short amount 11:48.675 --> 11:52.645 of time than other infrastructure. 11:54.113 --> 11:57.517 When this is over, or when the first wave is over, 11:57.517 --> 11:59.652 or we are significantly past this, 11:59.652 --> 12:01.654 do you think that some of the infrastructure 12:01.654 --> 12:05.258 from this pandemic remains and can be used 12:05.258 --> 12:08.695 for some longstanding problems that we have? 12:08.695 --> 12:11.497 - That's a great point, Bill, and it does point 12:11.497 --> 12:13.399 to the uniqueness of the Memphis situation, 12:13.399 --> 12:15.935 so let me talk about physical infrastructure. 12:15.935 --> 12:18.571 In addition to the alternative care facility, 12:18.571 --> 12:20.406 which is at the old Commercial Appeal building 12:20.406 --> 12:22.342 at 495 Union Avenue, 12:24.444 --> 12:26.312 there is also some systems infrastructure 12:26.312 --> 12:27.981 that was put into place. 12:27.981 --> 12:30.783 So for instance, we have an EMS surge facility 12:30.783 --> 12:32.619 over at the fairgrounds, which is unique 12:32.619 --> 12:34.787 and a first of its kind in the country, as well. 12:34.787 --> 12:37.290 So that's a systems infrastructure that we'll 12:37.290 --> 12:38.658 be able to put back into place 12:38.658 --> 12:40.326 should we ever need that. 12:40.326 --> 12:42.662 So we'll put that in our tool kit 12:42.662 --> 12:45.031 and we'll carry that with us forward. 12:45.031 --> 12:47.900 For the actual overflow or the alternate care facility, 12:47.900 --> 12:50.370 that is unique across the country. 12:50.370 --> 12:52.071 Many of the other facilities, 12:52.071 --> 12:53.573 there have been 17 others built, 12:53.573 --> 12:56.075 there will be 26 total that are built, 12:56.075 --> 12:57.377 and ours is one of them. 12:57.377 --> 12:59.212 Many of them are in arenas, 12:59.212 --> 13:01.848 and once this pandemic is over they will have 13:01.848 --> 13:03.516 to be disassembled and moved out 13:03.516 --> 13:05.284 because those are revenue generating 13:05.284 --> 13:07.186 facilities for those cities. 13:07.186 --> 13:10.189 Here in the city of Memphis, at that facility, 13:10.189 --> 13:13.192 there is a long term lease, an 18-month lease, 13:13.192 --> 13:16.195 and so it will remain as an alternate care facility 13:16.195 --> 13:17.964 during the period of that 18 months. 13:17.964 --> 13:20.800 Should we see a second wave of this pandemic, 13:20.800 --> 13:23.336 should we need to respond in some other way, 13:23.336 --> 13:25.405 we will have that facility with us 13:25.405 --> 13:26.806 for at least 18 months. 13:26.806 --> 13:29.008 During that 18 months, we can decide 13:29.008 --> 13:31.177 what we would like to do with that long term. 13:31.177 --> 13:34.514 The terms of exactly how that lease will be terminated 13:34.514 --> 13:37.083 and who will pick it up have not yet been decided 13:37.083 --> 13:38.751 but it does represent a significant 13:38.751 --> 13:40.053 opportunity for us here. 13:40.053 --> 13:41.621 There are approximately, 13:41.621 --> 13:43.056 yesterday at 10 o'clock in the morning 13:43.056 --> 13:44.824 they were 45% complete, 13:44.824 --> 13:46.926 they had just started to two weeks ago. 13:46.926 --> 13:48.494 Today, I anticipate they are approximately 13:48.494 --> 13:50.530 fifty percent complete and will come online 13:50.530 --> 13:52.131 in the middle of May and it will be 13:52.131 --> 13:55.134 an incredible facility, an incredible asset, 13:55.134 --> 13:58.271 located just adjacent to the medical center 13:58.271 --> 14:00.840 and so I anticipate that there will be a great use 14:00.840 --> 14:03.209 of that facility, irrespective of whether 14:03.209 --> 14:06.079 we put one patient in there from this COVID pandemic. 14:07.046 --> 14:08.848 - Alright, and over to Eric. 14:10.783 --> 14:13.019 - When we go to, I'm looking at, 14:13.019 --> 14:16.055 Bill mentioned the business, you know, 14:16.055 --> 14:18.758 using part of that $10 million for businesses 14:18.758 --> 14:22.929 and it gets me back to the Back to Business website. 14:22.929 --> 14:26.065 If people Google or search "Back to Business Memphis" 14:26.065 --> 14:28.101 it should be one of the first things that comes up. 14:28.101 --> 14:30.603 When I look at that, it's back to the sense of, 14:30.603 --> 14:32.739 you know you talked about testing, 14:32.739 --> 14:35.775 and stabilization, and capacity being good. 14:35.775 --> 14:39.011 How do we know as citizens or as business owners 14:39.011 --> 14:42.582 or interested people what we individually 14:42.582 --> 14:44.317 or collectively can do to continue 14:44.317 --> 14:46.919 to push these numbers because when I look 14:46.919 --> 14:49.088 at it, and you're going to be annoyed with me, 14:49.088 --> 14:50.356 but bear with me. 14:50.356 --> 14:52.091 You know, I look at it and everything on 14:52.091 --> 14:54.660 as we tape this Thursday morning, 14:54.660 --> 14:56.129 everything's green and yellow, right? 14:56.129 --> 14:58.831 All the indicators about you know, daily number 14:58.831 --> 15:01.067 of confirmed cases, ICU bed utilization, 15:01.067 --> 15:02.568 all of it's green and yellow. 15:02.568 --> 15:04.704 Which when you read the very helpful narrative 15:04.704 --> 15:06.272 that goes with it, it says when we're all 15:06.272 --> 15:08.040 green and yellow we can go into the next phase, 15:08.040 --> 15:09.709 which in this case is we're in phase zero, 15:09.709 --> 15:10.977 we can go into phase one. 15:12.678 --> 15:14.680 But we're not yet, because as you said, 15:14.680 --> 15:17.350 the task force meets, it talks, it makes those decisions. 15:17.350 --> 15:19.552 So how do we know as citizens and as businesses 15:19.552 --> 15:21.888 if we're doing enough to help keep 15:21.888 --> 15:23.189 these numbers where they need to be? 15:23.189 --> 15:24.957 I think that's, you know what I'm saying? 15:24.957 --> 15:27.493 That part still has a big gap for me. 15:27.493 --> 15:30.563 - Sure. I think it's a great point we have done. 15:30.563 --> 15:36.769 I think Yeoman's job of communicating clear information 15:36.769 --> 15:39.806 when, quite frankly, the way has not been clear, 15:39.806 --> 15:42.375 there's a lot of information coming at people 15:42.375 --> 15:44.210 from a lot of different venues, 15:44.210 --> 15:46.045 and so distilling it down in a way that people 15:46.045 --> 15:47.380 can understand, I think our team has done 15:47.380 --> 15:49.615 a fantastic job of that. 15:49.615 --> 15:51.851 There is always room to improve in that messaging 15:51.851 --> 15:55.588 so that people understand kind of where we are on that. 15:55.588 --> 15:58.391 So we are trying to put together right now a dashboard 15:58.391 --> 16:00.726 that will give everybody that single look 16:00.726 --> 16:03.162 and will say "I can do my own analysis 16:03.162 --> 16:06.032 of the metrics and I can see kind of where we stand." 16:06.032 --> 16:08.434 So that has been work that has been going on, 16:08.434 --> 16:10.536 getting that in the right format 16:10.536 --> 16:11.971 that we can get out to everybody, 16:11.971 --> 16:14.974 I anticipate that will happen in the next week or so. 16:14.974 --> 16:16.976 But again, it has been a lot of work, 16:16.976 --> 16:18.845 a lot of data analysis, a lot of behind 16:18.845 --> 16:20.746 the scenes, and getting that translated over 16:20.746 --> 16:23.216 into a way that clearly communicates 16:23.216 --> 16:26.853 where we are to the public, I think is something 16:26.853 --> 16:28.921 that will come to fruition very soon. 16:28.921 --> 16:30.423 I will say the daily press briefings 16:30.423 --> 16:33.960 that we have been giving and we went to three times a week, 16:33.960 --> 16:35.494 and now we're back to every day. 16:35.494 --> 16:37.096 We have increased that specifically 16:37.096 --> 16:38.998 so that people understand where we are. 16:38.998 --> 16:41.133 You've heard Dr. Haushalter, you've heard myself, 16:41.133 --> 16:43.369 you've heard the mayors consistently say 16:43.369 --> 16:46.239 that here's where we are, we have reached a plateau, 16:46.239 --> 16:48.140 we have been on a slightly downward trend. 16:48.140 --> 16:51.844 Those kinds of things that you all know where we are. 16:51.844 --> 16:54.914 I would like to just emphasize that 30 days ago, 16:54.914 --> 16:58.117 or 45 days ago, we thought we might be 16:58.117 --> 16:59.986 in a very, very different place. 16:59.986 --> 17:02.121 So we are very fortunate and blessed 17:02.121 --> 17:04.357 as a community that we have all taken 17:04.357 --> 17:06.492 this collective action so that we can 17:06.492 --> 17:08.461 be in this place where we are really 17:08.461 --> 17:09.896 on this tipping point of deciding 17:09.896 --> 17:13.099 whether to move into phase one or not. 17:13.099 --> 17:15.501 It could have gone the other way, 17:15.501 --> 17:17.136 like it did in some other communities 17:17.136 --> 17:19.739 where we had this dramatic uptick. 17:19.739 --> 17:23.743 The evidence is what the citizens are doing, 17:23.743 --> 17:25.278 the compliance with social distancing, 17:25.278 --> 17:27.246 the compliance with all of the orders 17:27.246 --> 17:29.282 is working to blunt this, 17:29.282 --> 17:32.118 delay any kind of a surge that could come, 17:32.118 --> 17:34.253 so we are at a really good point 17:34.253 --> 17:36.989 and as you heard yesterday, we're within days 17:36.989 --> 17:40.226 of being able to make a determination 17:40.226 --> 17:42.028 about whether we should move. 17:42.028 --> 17:43.996 - Do you, I mean this is speculative, 17:43.996 --> 17:46.265 but once we go into phase one, 17:46.265 --> 17:48.935 and as you just said, could be days away, 17:48.935 --> 17:51.370 and businesses do reopen and people 17:51.370 --> 17:54.173 get back into some sense of normalcy, right? 17:54.173 --> 17:55.408 It's not every business opening, 17:55.408 --> 17:56.442 there's still a lot of distancing, 17:56.442 --> 17:57.743 there'll still be mask wearing, 17:57.743 --> 18:00.279 lot of changes in phase one. 18:00.279 --> 18:03.282 But the will on the part of all 18:03.282 --> 18:04.784 these various government entities. 18:04.784 --> 18:08.054 If there is a spike, if there is an increase in cases, 18:08.054 --> 18:10.456 to shut down, to take a step backwards. 18:10.456 --> 18:12.158 That's going to be a difficult decision, 18:12.158 --> 18:15.962 because people will...a certain number of people 18:15.962 --> 18:17.296 are bursting at the seams to get out, 18:17.296 --> 18:19.031 to get back to some sense of normalcy. 18:19.031 --> 18:22.234 Businesses want to operate, they are in desperate straits. 18:22.234 --> 18:25.071 If we go a couple weeks, how do you close 18:25.071 --> 18:27.006 them back down if it comes to that? 18:28.174 --> 18:30.676 - I think we have said from the beginning, 18:30.676 --> 18:33.346 the thought was is would be very hard 18:33.346 --> 18:35.047 to close things down and to, 18:35.047 --> 18:38.184 you know, restrict kind of the operations. 18:38.184 --> 18:41.187 Quite frankly, it's turned out to be harder 18:41.187 --> 18:42.622 the other way as to determine what's 18:42.622 --> 18:44.724 the right time to open up. 18:44.724 --> 18:47.193 The data is pretty clear, when you see an uptick 18:47.193 --> 18:49.061 that you need to take action. 18:49.061 --> 18:51.263 That's why we're monitoring the hospital capacity, 18:51.263 --> 18:54.967 monitoring the capacity of our public health system, 18:54.967 --> 18:57.837 so that we can be sure that we 18:57.837 --> 18:59.305 will have all of the information, 18:59.305 --> 19:01.374 that we won't have a spike in new cases 19:01.374 --> 19:04.477 or a new outbreak that we don't know about. 19:04.477 --> 19:06.112 That's what critically important. 19:06.112 --> 19:09.048 I have heard collectively across the task force, 19:09.048 --> 19:11.317 a will on the part of the elected officials 19:11.317 --> 19:13.185 and the health officer, that should we see 19:13.185 --> 19:16.522 a dramatic uptick that we will immediately 19:16.522 --> 19:20.092 put back into place the protocols that we had before. 19:20.092 --> 19:23.129 I think that the will is there and that will continue. 19:23.129 --> 19:24.063 - All right, let me go back 19:24.063 --> 19:25.664 to Bill for a couple questions. 19:25.664 --> 19:30.669 - You've also had a pretty unique response here 19:31.804 --> 19:34.306 to dealing with people who are homeless, 19:34.306 --> 19:37.176 who either have come into contact with someone 19:37.176 --> 19:41.914 who has the virus, or who have the virus themselves. 19:41.914 --> 19:46.218 Is any of that solution, is any of that response 19:46.218 --> 19:50.222 pointed a way toward a better strategy 19:51.190 --> 19:54.160 after this pandemic for people 19:54.160 --> 19:56.529 who are homeless in our city? 19:56.529 --> 19:58.597 - Well, let me go more global than that, Bill. 19:58.597 --> 20:00.599 I think coming out of this, 20:00.599 --> 20:02.435 people are learning lessons that will stick 20:02.435 --> 20:04.637 with us for decades to come. 20:04.637 --> 20:07.973 The delivery of... the systems of delivery 20:07.973 --> 20:11.077 of services are forever changed in many ways. 20:11.077 --> 20:13.512 You've seen some inspiring stories about 20:13.512 --> 20:16.148 how people have pivoted their service delivery. 20:16.148 --> 20:17.950 I know in the city of Memphis, 20:17.950 --> 20:21.454 our emergency medical service has changed 20:21.454 --> 20:23.989 and we have advanced that radar concept 20:23.989 --> 20:27.893 to try to keep the emergency rooms from being overflowing, 20:27.893 --> 20:29.628 we're sending doctors and paramedics 20:29.628 --> 20:31.931 on low acuity calls to get people 20:31.931 --> 20:32.965 to the care that they need rather than 20:32.965 --> 20:34.900 going to the emergency room. 20:34.900 --> 20:37.336 We think that's a practice that we'll continue. 20:37.336 --> 20:40.339 We talked about our EMS surge facility, 20:41.640 --> 20:43.909 again to keep ED's from being overflowed. 20:43.909 --> 20:46.779 Our Memphis Animal Services has really made 20:46.779 --> 20:48.948 a gigantic pivot, they have made 20:48.948 --> 20:50.649 such great strides over time, 20:50.649 --> 20:52.985 but now we're in the provision 20:52.985 --> 20:55.221 of service preemptively to make sure 20:55.221 --> 20:56.622 we have a pet food pantry 20:56.622 --> 20:58.557 so that people don't get a desperate need. 20:58.557 --> 21:00.526 So we're answering people's needs 21:00.526 --> 21:04.964 before a safety net has to kick in, 21:04.964 --> 21:06.732 and the same thing here with homelessness. 21:06.732 --> 21:08.634 It's really sharpened our focus 21:08.634 --> 21:10.870 on the service delivery needs for our homelessness, 21:10.870 --> 21:14.573 for the homeless population that we have. 21:14.573 --> 21:16.976 The good news is we had many things 21:16.976 --> 21:18.878 in motion before this pandemic hit, 21:18.878 --> 21:20.412 as you know, we have talked about 21:20.412 --> 21:23.682 and we're actively building out a homeless aid facility, 21:23.682 --> 21:25.484 some expanded capacity for 21:25.484 --> 21:28.287 a women's shelter in the city of Memphis, 21:28.287 --> 21:30.156 so those needs have been amplified 21:30.156 --> 21:33.425 and our responses...our focus has been sharpened 21:33.425 --> 21:35.327 on that service delivery for those populations 21:35.327 --> 21:37.096 to make sure that we can reach them 21:37.096 --> 21:39.431 when and where we need to. 21:39.431 --> 21:42.001 But there are many examples, 21:42.001 --> 21:46.372 we were talking just recently about this remote work model, 21:46.372 --> 21:48.774 and there was a worry about the lack of productivity, 21:48.774 --> 21:50.543 but we're actually seeing in some cases, 21:50.543 --> 21:52.845 an increased level of productivity. 21:52.845 --> 21:55.347 So I think it's really going to change a lot of things, 21:55.347 --> 21:57.650 and it's not just the immediate responses 21:57.650 --> 21:59.251 that you're seeing, I think we're going to see, 21:59.251 --> 22:01.520 fundamentally, a shift in a number of ways 22:01.520 --> 22:04.089 of how we deliver services more effectively 22:04.089 --> 22:07.393 to those citizens who need those services. 22:07.393 --> 22:10.563 - What is the discussion been like since we are a city 22:10.563 --> 22:13.999 with a National Basketball Association franchise 22:13.999 --> 22:18.237 and a city with a very unique month-long civic festival. 22:18.237 --> 22:21.340 What has the discussion been like so far 22:21.340 --> 22:26.345 about how to resume those large-scale crowd events? 22:27.246 --> 22:30.482 - Robust, we certainly know that 22:30.482 --> 22:34.220 that is a very special circumstance, 22:34.220 --> 22:36.355 as we talk about getting back to business, 22:36.355 --> 22:38.023 that is part of our economy. 22:38.023 --> 22:41.093 Those are...though they are very large parts 22:41.093 --> 22:44.263 of our community, they are specialty 22:44.263 --> 22:46.565 kinds of businesses and events 22:46.565 --> 22:50.302 and so it requires a detailed level of discussion, 22:50.302 --> 22:52.271 requires a detailed level of controls 22:52.271 --> 22:53.772 to be put into place. 22:53.772 --> 22:55.674 It's just, quite frankly, very hard to assemble 22:55.674 --> 22:58.277 large groups of people when you still have 22:58.277 --> 23:00.846 a significant number of cases in your community. 23:00.846 --> 23:05.651 So it requires special detail for those areas 23:05.651 --> 23:07.219 where large... where people gather. 23:07.219 --> 23:10.689 So it is an ongoing conversation, 23:10.689 --> 23:13.525 we are engaged with all of the parties 23:13.525 --> 23:15.728 that you might imagine in the city who 23:15.728 --> 23:18.330 put on those festivals of those sporting events, 23:18.330 --> 23:20.232 and it's an important part for people 23:20.232 --> 23:23.535 to know as they plan, what can be done 23:23.535 --> 23:26.005 so that they can plan either the rest 23:26.005 --> 23:27.673 of their season or the festival, 23:27.673 --> 23:30.843 or are we having to move into the following year. 23:30.843 --> 23:32.811 So it's an important discussion for us. 23:34.546 --> 23:36.682 - And I'll throw it to Eric. 23:36.682 --> 23:39.385 - And just with a couple minutes left, Doug. 23:39.385 --> 23:42.554 Testing, we've had a... on Behind The Headlines 23:42.554 --> 23:45.958 and on the podcasts and the stories we do on Daily Memphian. 23:47.126 --> 23:48.360 Talking to a lots of different people, 23:48.360 --> 23:50.229 Christ Community, and Church Health, 23:50.229 --> 23:52.831 from various representatives of the hospitals, 23:52.831 --> 23:55.834 and by and large, testing capacity right now, 23:55.834 --> 23:58.170 we're not hitting it, right? 23:58.170 --> 24:00.606 I mean we have more capacity than we're utilizing. 24:00.606 --> 24:03.876 Is it time for the city to begin 24:03.876 --> 24:07.012 to test more people with no symptoms? 24:07.012 --> 24:08.213 Right now, by and large, 24:08.213 --> 24:10.049 I think Church Health is an exception, 24:10.049 --> 24:12.318 but by and large most places doing testing, 24:12.318 --> 24:14.720 you either have to have some sort of, 24:14.720 --> 24:18.691 some kind of symptoms before you'd be tested. 24:18.691 --> 24:20.726 Is it time to broaden that net? 24:20.726 --> 24:23.028 - Sure. I think it's a great question, 24:23.028 --> 24:25.331 certainly there are symptomatic people 24:25.331 --> 24:27.099 who are not taking advantage of the testing 24:27.099 --> 24:29.201 for a number of reasons or maybe distrust, 24:29.201 --> 24:31.003 people don't want to be seen as positive 24:31.003 --> 24:32.838 and then they can't go back to work. 24:32.838 --> 24:34.707 There's a lot of reasons why they 24:34.707 --> 24:36.842 are not taking advantage of it. 24:36.842 --> 24:39.845 There may be just a simple lack of knowledge, 24:39.845 --> 24:42.047 and so we've tried to communicate that broadly. 24:42.047 --> 24:44.216 Our testing capacity has increased 24:44.216 --> 24:46.085 dramatically in the last several weeks, 24:46.085 --> 24:48.220 and so we do have adequate capacity 24:48.220 --> 24:50.723 to test those individuals who would desire 24:50.723 --> 24:52.658 to be tested who are symptomatic. 24:52.658 --> 24:55.527 But as you said, Eric, there is a good reason 24:55.527 --> 24:57.296 to test asymptomatic people. 24:57.296 --> 24:58.797 We're starting off with those people 24:58.797 --> 25:00.833 who are most at risk, the people who are working, 25:00.833 --> 25:02.835 or are actually employees of 25:02.835 --> 25:04.970 the hospitals and the nursing homes. 25:04.970 --> 25:07.072 Our hospital systems have been testing 25:07.072 --> 25:09.375 their frontline workers, asymptomatically. 25:09.375 --> 25:12.010 They haven't gone through everybody yet, 25:12.010 --> 25:14.046 but they are doing that in a proactive manner 25:14.046 --> 25:16.048 to make sure that the healthcare workers 25:17.349 --> 25:19.618 don't have the disease that they could pass on. 25:19.618 --> 25:21.587 I know several of our large hospital systems 25:21.587 --> 25:24.623 are a long way through testing their frontline workers. 25:24.623 --> 25:27.726 Our nursing home population and the employees 25:27.726 --> 25:29.928 of the nursing homes, we are pushing them 25:29.928 --> 25:32.331 to get tested asymptomatically. 25:32.331 --> 25:34.967 And many of the providers that are coming online, 25:34.967 --> 25:38.137 the Walgreen's providers, there is a rubric 25:38.137 --> 25:40.005 that they are using that says 25:40.005 --> 25:43.275 if you are symptomatic, please come and get tested. 25:43.275 --> 25:44.777 And then all the way down, 25:44.777 --> 25:46.912 if you are asymptomatic and a first responder, 25:46.912 --> 25:49.415 police, fire, or healthcare worker, 25:49.415 --> 25:51.450 they will do asymptomatic testing. 25:51.450 --> 25:53.419 So before we go to more broad ranging 25:53.419 --> 25:54.953 asymptomatic testing, we want to make sure 25:54.953 --> 25:57.022 that we are fully meeting the needs 25:57.022 --> 25:58.323 of folks in the community who 25:58.323 --> 26:01.527 are symptomatic and those first responders. 26:01.527 --> 26:03.095 - The other big need as we go into 26:03.095 --> 26:05.063 these future phases, I think everyone agrees 26:05.063 --> 26:06.298 is contact tracing. 26:06.298 --> 26:08.400 Your boss, Mayor Jim Strickland talked, 26:08.400 --> 26:09.902 was on the show a few weeks ago, 26:09.902 --> 26:12.271 time blurs together for everyone right now. 26:12.271 --> 26:14.006 Talking about the city had some capacity 26:14.006 --> 26:16.141 with existing employees for the contact tracing. 26:16.141 --> 26:19.211 Will the city be ramping up the number 26:19.211 --> 26:21.313 of contact tracing individuals it has, 26:21.313 --> 26:24.082 and could that federal money be put toward that? 26:24.082 --> 26:25.517 - Well, I'll answer the last question first, 26:25.517 --> 26:27.252 and absolutely, that is one of the reasons that 26:27.252 --> 26:28.987 the federal money was allocated 26:28.987 --> 26:30.789 was to pay for additional capacity. 26:30.789 --> 26:33.091 So Dr. Haushalter at the Health Department 26:33.091 --> 26:34.827 has conveyed to the joint task force 26:34.827 --> 26:37.196 her needs for additional staffing. 26:37.196 --> 26:39.431 Obviously as we open up, folks of the city 26:39.431 --> 26:40.899 who have been volunteering 26:40.899 --> 26:42.468 and helping out over there doing contact tracing, 26:42.468 --> 26:44.436 and we've had a number of other volunteers 26:44.436 --> 26:46.572 from other agencies pitch in and help 26:46.572 --> 26:48.874 with that contact tracing, we very much appreciate it. 26:48.874 --> 26:50.542 But when we get back to business, 26:50.542 --> 26:52.578 those folks may have to go back to work. 26:52.578 --> 26:55.113 So this is an opportunity to hire 26:55.113 --> 26:57.316 and expand a staff of permanent folks 26:57.316 --> 27:00.719 who will do that contact tracing for the Health Department 27:00.719 --> 27:03.522 or the contact investigations, and more importantly, 27:03.522 --> 27:05.224 equally important is the monitoring 27:05.224 --> 27:06.859 of people who have been put into quarantine. 27:06.859 --> 27:10.262 So she needs some additional capacity, 27:10.262 --> 27:12.731 the federal money can be used for that capacity. 27:12.731 --> 27:13.966 You heard Mayor Harris talk yesterday, 27:13.966 --> 27:15.968 and said that some of the federal money 27:15.968 --> 27:18.337 from the county will be used to plus up 27:18.337 --> 27:19.838 the capacity of the Health Department 27:19.838 --> 27:21.573 and we fully expect that to happen, 27:21.573 --> 27:23.509 and will be underway very quickly 27:23.509 --> 27:26.845 so that we do have that capacity there. 27:26.845 --> 27:29.748 - All right, well we are out of time for this week. 27:29.748 --> 27:31.517 Doug, I appreciate you joining us 27:31.517 --> 27:36.522 and join us again next week and stay safe, thank you. 27:37.689 --> 27:38.857 - Thank you Eric, thank you Bill. 27:38.857 --> 27:41.460 [intense music] 27:57.743 --> 27:59.878 [acoustic guitar chords]