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The head of the Memphis Restaurant Association (MRA) said Thursday that the decisions made by the health department have a “huge impact” on the restaurant industry.

At an update of the Memphis and Shelby County COVID-19 Joint Task Force briefing Thursday, Ernie Mellor, president of MRA, said “these are truly challenging days and times for everybody, in particular in our industry. As most of you know, we have been hit as hard as anybody.”

Mellor said as the number if COVID-19 cases increase, the health department is having to make “tough decisions.”

“These decisions that they are making are for the safety of everyone, not just your next door neighbor, but us as restaurant owners and everybody in the county,” Mellor said. These decisions have a real impact on the livelihood of our industry, our employers, our employees, and their families. So I’ve asked Dr. Haushalter and her staff to please consider the economic impacts of their decisions before they take action.”

The latest directive from the health department asks that restaurants collect tracing data on its customers, recording the names and phone numbers of patrons. Mellor said this request “will be challenging for our members.”

Dr. Alisa Haushalter, director of the Shelby County Health Department said the purpose of this is to ensure the health department has the ability to contact people if they’ve been exposed in a restaurant setting.

Mellor encouraged all restaurants and patrons to follow the protocols of the health directive.

Haushalter added that the health department is prepared to go out and enforce protocols at restaurants and bars.

“We do rely on others bringing information to us and as we are able with the staffing that we have or with police and sheriff we will then respond or do more proactive checks,” Haushalter said. “We all want to move forward, being back to work and back to school. If one or two businesses don’t comply, it makes it much more difficult for every other business.”

Bars aren’t being “targeted,” Haushalter said. Instead, she said the department is relying on data and science to make decisions. The data shows that there is an increase in cases among individuals between the ages of 25 and 45 and that transmissions is occurring in social settings.

Haushalter also gave an update on the criteria for moving forward, which includes:

• The number and trend of cases, which is trending upward

• The positivity rate of tests, which should be below 10 percent. It’s currently at 8.6 percent overall

• The reproduction rate, which should be at 1 or below. That number is currently 1.2

• Testing capacity, which Haushalter said is “becoming more strained”

• Hospital capacity; Haushalter said hospitals are reporting they are currently able to manage number of cases coming in

• Public health capacity, which includes the ability to get people isolated quickly. Haushalter said this is “becoming more of a challenge”

“These are all red flags. When you look at all four gating criteria, we have red flags. We’re really straining the public health system. We ‘re beginning to strain the hospital system. We know our testing system is strained as well and our numbers are going up. So those are things that allow us to move us forward.”

Two brothers — James and Jesse Hermann of the Never Played Out games company — launched their Kickstarter campaign for My Fake Band, the company’s first satirical game, on June 23rd. The campaign has two weeks left before it closes on Thursday, July 23rd.

Jesse says the idea for My Fake Band had a long gestation period. He and his brother would amuse themselves “over the years, coming up with ridiculous band names.”

• The Hermann brothers

Ridiculous band names became a central feature of My Fake Band, in which there are two decks — the fake band deck and the genre deck. A card from each deck is paired together, and then players get to add their input. “So everybody who’s playing would write down what they think the hit single would be,” Jesse explains. The reader — or founding member — then tries to match the single to the person who wrote it.

The Hermann brothers have a long relationship with music as well. “I have been in and out of bands from high school on,” Jesse says. “In college I was in a band called Baked Potatoes.”

Besides My Fake Band, NPO has two other games in the works. For now, though, the focus is on My Fake Band. Incentives for the Kickstarter backers include a NSFW (not safe for work) booster pack, and of course, backers will receive a copy of My Fake Band.

As of press, the Kickstarter campaign is at $3,486 of the $10,000 goal.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris is one of five elected officials across the country who will head a national group focused on rebuilding the economy in the wake of COVID-19.

The group, Renewing America Task Force, will work to promote state and local policy solutions related to economic recovery during and post pandemic.

Others serving on the task force include Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Lieutenant Governor of Michigan Garlin Gilchrist II, Baltimore delegate Brooke Lierman, and Oregon treasurer Tobias Read.

"We are in the midst of one of the most transformative periods in history," Harris said. "Fortunately, the NewDEAL and NewDEAL Forum have always provided opportunities for leadership, collaboration, and innovation. As we all fight the spread of COVID-19 and safely and responsibly navigate this new normal, we can recover and we can even emerge stronger.

"This group will help convene some of the most serious problem-solvers, examine what’s happening around the country and, most critically, point out best practices that will help shape the path forward. I am pleased to co-chair this vital initiative."

Discussions of the task force will touch on topics such as increasing affordable housing, supporting entrepreneurs and local economic development, improving access to high-speed internet, and modernizing and strengthening the social safety net.

Additionally, the task force will address opportunities to remedy “long-standing inequities that have discriminated against people of color,” according to a statement from the NewDEAL Forum, the nonprofit that formed the task force.

The NewDEAL Forum works to identify and promote “innovative, future-oriented state and local pro-growth progressive policies.” Specifically, the organization seeks to foster economic growth, reduce barriers to opportunities, and promote “good government” across the country.

“In this moment of crisis, state, and local leaders are stepping up to offer bold and creative ways to protect their communities from the immediate fall-out of the pandemic, while recognizing that our goal should not be to restore America to its pre-pandemic condition,” said NewDEAL Forum CEO Debbie Cox Bultan. “Our country is desperate for leadership that addresses long-time injustices and inequalities that have been exacerbated by this virus, including by embracing the opportunity to tackle systemic racism.

"The Renewing America Task Force will provide a platform for developing and sharing the best ideas for our recovery among officials who can lead their implementation across the country.”

Beginning this week, the task force will meet monthly for in-depth discussions, in which members will identify short and long term concerns and hear from other elected officials and experts. Findings will be released after each meeting, which will be meant to help guide state and local policymakers in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first topic up for discussion will be the pending housing crisis, as millions face eviction amid high unemployment levels.

The Memphis City Council will reconsider a referendum on police and fire residency requirements set to be on the November ballot at its meeting Tuesday.

The council voted in February not to rescind an ordinance passed by the previous council to allow voters to decide if public safety officials should live within 50 miles of the city. Now, the council will return to that ordinance, deciding whether or not to keep it on the November ballot.

Ahead of the council’s vote, a coalition of Black clergy members gathered virtually to express concerns about the referendum and relaxing the residency requirements for police officers.

Rev. Earle Fisher of Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church said the city’s premise behind relaxing residency requirements is that “violent crime is best managed by an increase in police officers, thus we must relax requirements because we can’t recruit enough personnel.”

But, Fisher says the group disagrees with that premise: “We do not need more officers to solve the problem. It’s a matter of quality, not quantity.”

“We decrease crime by decreasing poverty, by investing more in public education than we invest in incarceration, by making it easier to get a job paying a livable wage than it is to get access to guns and drugs,” Fisher says. “To this end, we implore every city council member to do the right things and vote to remove this referendum.”

The vote signifies “our broader long-term commitment to change,” Fisher said.

Rev. Roz Nichols of Freedom Chapel Christian Church said the group “expects and demands for us to have safety officers that will serve and live as residents in our community. We do believe that residency matters.”

“Substantial transformation,” Nichols said, will come in the form of funding for agencies to “appropriately” respond to mental health crises, at-risk youth, homelessness, and domestic violence.

“These are not new issues, but we are at a critical moment when we are looking for transformational change,” Nichols said. “How can the $9.8 million from the justice department be appropriated to fund those things that help support community safety?”

Nichols said she and the other clergy members “expect the city council to move in the direction of systemic change and not perpetuate the status quo” by removing the referendum from the November ballot.

“More officers, regardless of their residency, will not be the solution to the real crises we face,” she said.

The city council will take the first of three votes on the ordinance to remove the residency requirement question from the November ballot Tuesday (today) during its 3:30 meeting. Tune in here.