Virus-fueled conspiracy theories take aim at hospitals

By

-

04/20/2020

1000 — In this April 13, 2020, file photo, a patient arrives in an ambulance cared for by medical workers wearing personal protective equipment due to COVID-19 concerns outside NYU Langone Medical Center, in New York. The coronavirus has breathed fresh life into old conspiracy theories and inspired a mishmash of new ones, with a cast of villains that includes Bill Gates, 5G wireless technology, the United Nations and President Donald Trump’s political foes. The baseless claims spreading on social media also feature videos taken outside hospitals treating COVID-19 patients. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

by Michael Kunzelman —

The video lasts just 13 seconds and shows nothing more than the view from a car quietly driving past a hospital entrance. But the person who posted it on Twitter used the footage to sarcastically question reports of “apocalyptic conditions” at Mount Sinai Queens in New York City.

That video and dozens of others like it have been spreading on social media through the #FilmYourHospital hashtag. The people taking and posting videos of quiet scenes outside hospitals are promoting a right-wing conspiracy theory that fear-mongering media outlets and Democrats are intentionally exaggerating COVID-19’s deadly toll. The clip from Queens racked up more than 227,000 views in less than three weeks.

“It’s very sad because I’m working with a team of thousands of people who are putting their lives at risk. They are struggling every day to provide the best care they can in horrendous conditions,” said Dr. David Reich, president of Mount Sinai Queens and Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. The Mount Sinai system has treated thousands of coronavirus patients.

Hospitals aren’t the only targets of the far-right fringe during the pandemic. The coronavirus has breathed fresh life into old conspiracy theories and inspired a mishmash of new ones, with a cast of villains that includes Bill Gates, 5G wireless technology, the United Nations and President Donald Trump’s political foes.

New York is also the setting for one of the wildest virus-related conspiracy theories circulating on social media — that the pandemic is masking a military operation to rescue thousands of deformed “mole children” from the clutches of sex traffickers in underground tunnels beneath medical tents recently erected in Central Park.

Many of the social media accounts driving that baseless story and the #FilmYourHospital campaign belong to followers of “QAnon,” a far-right, apocalyptic conspiracy theory that believes Trump is waging a secret campaign against “deep state” enemies and Satan-worshiping Democrats who prey on children. The Twitter user who posted the March 29 video of Mount Sinai Queens has a profile that includes the QAnon slogan “WWG1WGA,” which stands for “Where we go one, we go all.”

Alex Friedfeld, an investigative researcher for the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said quarantine conditions are ripe for conspiracy theories to mutate and quickly spread. The purveyors are scared and cooped up inside their homes with abundant free time to spend on the internet.

“We are in a time of crisis, so people are frightened,” he said. “They are looking for explanations. Conspiracy theories can be comforting because they basically place order on chaos. A lot of them give you somebody to blame, and that can be comforting to people at an uncertain time.”

Friedfeld said the virus has become fodder for old tropes like “Agenda 21,” a conspiracy theory that a network of global elites are using a United Nations resolution adopted in 1992 to control citizens and depopulate the earth.

Other new conspiracy theories being fueled by the virus include one that claims maps show a link between 5G networks and coronavirus outbreaks. Another holds that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates intends to use a COVID-19 vaccine to track and control the world’s population. Fox News host Laura Ingraham amplified the narrative with an April 7 tweet that said, “Digitally tracking Americans’ every move has been a dream of the globalists for years.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday that COVID-19 misinformation is a poisonous threat to the world and urged social media organizations to do more to counter it. Social media platforms say they are trying to stop the spread of coronavirus hoaxes and connect users with reliable information.

Facebook is removing content related to the “#FilmYourHospital” hashtag when it violates the social network’s policies, according to company spokesman Andy Stone. The company says it removes coronavirus-related misinformation from Facebook and Instagram that could contribute to “imminent physical harm.”

Twitter says it is removing COVID-19 content “when it has a call to action that could potentially cause harm.” One of the first and most popular tweets promoting #FilmYourHospital remains on the platform. DeAnna Lorraine, a California Republican who unsuccessfully challenged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, posted a video taken outside a Los Angeles-area hospital and urged her followers to get the hashtag trending. The video she tweeted on March 29 has 1.4 million views.

A copycat video posted on Twitter showed an empty parking lot and vacant tents outside University Medical Center Tucson in Arizona. “We should be picketing in protest of this hoax!” the user tweeted.

A hospital official said the exterior appears quiet because the medical center is not allowing visitors, has furloughed nonessential employees, canceled elective procedures and stopped using the tents to test outpatients with mild virus symptoms. Dr. Christian Bime, medical director of the intensive care unit at the Tucson hospital, said he has treated approximately 20 COVID-19 patients, some of whom have died.

“This is not a hoax. This is real. These are real patients who have real families,” Bime said.

A Mount Sinai spokeswoman says the lobby inside its Queen hospital appeared empty in the video because it also barred visitors. Another Twitter user posted a copycat video outside Mount Sinai’s Manhattan hospital, which normally has about 970 patients but had approximately 1,250 on Wednesday. Around 700 were COVID-19 patients, including roughly 150 on ventilators, according to Reich. He called it “the worst crisis of our lifetimes.”

“There is so much obvious evidence that this is real. It almost defies imagination that anybody would have to try to prove it,” Reich said.

(Follow Michael Kunzelman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Kunzelman75. Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.)

COVID-19, African Americans, mental health and the need for ‘reaching out’

By

Dr. Sybil C. Mitchell

-

04/20/2020

0

taraj — Actress Taraji P. Henson has started a campaign to help African Americans, who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, access free therapy during the outbreak. Henson is operating the campaign through The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, which she founded in 2018. It’s named in honor of her father, who suffered from mental health challenges after serving in the Vietnam War. (Photo: Screen capture from Instagram)

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented time of personal isolation and seclusion, with African Americans and those dealing with deep poverty more at risk for experiencing mental health challenges.

Dr. Rosie Phillips Davis (Courtesy photo)

“People lose jobs all the time,” said Dr. Rosie Phillips Davis, past president of the American Psychological Association. “But those living just above the poverty rate have lost jobs with food insecurity and no way to pay rent. Mental health becomes a concern when you look at the unemployment rate reaching as high as 32 percent.”

Men have been more at risk for suicide with the loss of manufacturing, coal mining jobs, the opioid crisis, and drug overdose, Davis said.

These were concerns before the pandemic, Davis said. There is a phenomenon called “death by despair,” and the heartland has been hit hard with it.

In Knox County, the Knoxville area, nine people committed suicide in a 48-hour period during the last week in March. At that time, there were only six deaths from the coronavirus. City officials could not specifically cite the pandemic as the cause, but the timing, at least, was noted.

“The number of suicides in Knoxville, during that two-day period, was alarming,” said Dr. William Young, founder of the National Suicide and the Black Church Conference. “Life as we knew it had changed, and it changed quickly.

“There are no ‘definites’ anymore, and we don’t know for how long. I am concerned that people with undiagnosed clinical depression might be pushed to the edge. And certainly, individuals who have some mental health issues may already be on the edge.”

Jeanice White, a recovering addict who has been clean for nearly two decades, remembers vividly when she lost the will to live and decided one night to do something about it.

The pandemic could be a trigger for her, if it were not for her “relationship with the Lord,” she said.

“I had been on drugs for years,” White said. “Back then, you bought cocaine in powdered form and cooked it to make it a rock. That was ‘free-basing.’ I worked all week for years and smoked up my money on the weekend.

“I couldn’t stop. I didn’t know how to get out. So, one night, I got high, and I walked out in front of an 18-wheeler. But before I could get into its path, something slammed me to the ground. I believe it was divine intervention.”

Jeanice White: “I am working on a 500-word puzzle to occupy my mind while staying in. And I maintain an attitude of prayer.”

White went to her sister’s house and just happened to see a commercial on television about a drug rehab in Waynesboro, Tenn. White signed up, got clean and became a Christian there.

“People in my circumstance may be at risk for relapsing and entertaining thoughts of suicide. But I only look at the television for updates and then turn it off. I am working on a 500-word puzzle to occupy my mind while staying in. And I maintain an attitude of prayer.”

Michael Easterling grew up in a home where mental health was often misunderstood. His mother was diagnosed bipolar and schizophrenic. He realized later what a tremendous effect her mental health would have on his life.

“My mother was medicated all the time,” Easterling said. “It made me resentful because she wasn’t the mother I needed her to be. I was withdrawn as a kid, and depressed.

“When I got to college, I experimented with drugs and promiscuous behavior. I had a lot of pent-up anger in my 20s. I lived in a high-rise and kept the window up. I would just stand there and say, ‘What if I just ended it right here?’ I had suicidal thoughts all the time.

Michael Easterling: “When this pandemic hit, I decided that my mental health had to be first priority.” (Courtesy photo)

Easterling continued, “When I moved back to Memphis, I started counseling with Dr. Young at The Healing Center. I had found a real church family. Bishop Young encouraged me to get therapy.

“So, at age 35, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and had medication prescribed for it. When this pandemic hit, I decided that my mental health had to be first priority. I ordered a 90-day supply of my medication. Staying fit mentally must always be my first priority.”

In Shelby County, there has not been a spike in suicides, according to the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center. In March,2020, there were eight suicides, compared to nine in March, 2019.

“It is critical that we reach out to one another,” said Young. “Neighbors and friends who may be alone, check on them. The only way we will get through this pandemic is by sharing and caring for each other.”

Davis concurred. She said we must do more than the “frequent hand-washing and social distancing” being advised.

“Please stay in touch with one another,” Davis said. “Seek people out. Find purpose during this time by being helpful to others. We need human contact. Try to identify sources of hope and help others to do the same. Call, or text someone to check on them. You can help by calling to say, ‘Let’s pray together.’”

(For more information, call The Healing Center at: (901) 370-4673. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is: 1 (800) 273-TALK, or 1 (800) 273-8255. Visit The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation.)

TSD COVID-19 Flash!: Latest numbers, Chattanooga & churches, facts for kids, music break: “Where Is The Love?”

By

Karanja A. Ajanaku

-

04/18/2020

0

Customers wearing masks and gloves and standing on spots marked for social distancing is part of experiencing reality at the Home Depot in Midtown during the public health emergency. (Photo: Karanja A. Ajanaku)

Shelby County Health Department Update: April 18, 2020

Shelby County currently has 1731 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The total number of deaths in Shelby County attributed to COVID-19 is 37.

Shelby County Health Department: www.shelbytnhealth.com/coronavirus

Chattanooga allows drive-in church services after lawsuit

(AP) — A Tennessee mayor is reversing course to allow drive-in church services during the coronavirus pandemic after the city was sued over its ban.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke confirmed the change in policy Saturday on Twitter. The conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom recently filed a federal lawsuit over the drive-in church ban on behalf of Chattanooga-based Metropolitan Tabernacle Church.

“Every week I sign a new executive order. I have spoken to pastors who assured me they could operate drive in church safely, with spaces between the cars and no collection plates,” Berke said Saturday on Twitter. “This week’s order therefore permits drive in church. Please observe safely.” READ more

UTHSC medical student organization creates fact sheet for kids

A student organization at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is doing its part to make sure that children in the Memphis community are properly informed about the coronavirus (COVID-19) through an age-specific flyer, the UTHSC Coronavirus Fact Sheet for Kids.

The document, created by Health Students Teach Memphis Youth, explains a range of things from what a virus is to the importance of social distancing. The organization, which operates through the College of Medicine, educates local elementary and middle school students about various aspects of health, from nutrition to mental and physical wellness to safety.

In the United States, there have been approximately 2,572 COVID-19 cases among children under 18, which is approximately 1.7 percent of reported cases overall. Because children are likely to be asymptomatic carriers and thus vectors for transmitting the virus to adults, the student group felt it was important to teach kids how proper hygiene practices and physical distancing can go a long way for community health.

“We are hoping that this educates our families in Shelby County to take proactive measures to combat COVID-19, whether that is in the form of social distancing or washing hands,” said third-year medical student Rahul Mohan, who is also one of the leaders of the Health Students Teach Memphis Youth.

“By compiling and releasing this information, we aim to not only prevents individual families from falling ill, but to also support a community-wide movement among our families to take this virus seriously.”

The flyer has been distributed digitally to schools and organizations in Memphis and Nashville. It can also be found on the UTHSC Coronavirus Website Resources page.

An update on local testing availability

Via his weekly update, Mayor Jim Strickland says, “if you or someone you know has not been tested, and you’re experiencing symptoms—get tested. We have the resources readily available, and they’re all free.

“You don’t need a doctor’s referral, but you do have to make an appointment. At this time, we are not–let me say that again–we are not testing asymptomatic individuals. We have testing sites all over our city and starting today, we’re adding more capacity in Frayser and Hickory Hill. For a full list of test sites, click here.

Music break: Where is the love? – The Black Eyed Peas

Managing care while dealing with HIV & COVID-19

By

Montee Lopez

-

04/18/2020

0

LdJoyce2 — For LáDeia Joyce and others living with HIV/AIDS during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s gotten even harder to maintain a sense of normalcy. (Screen capture)

“Control the controllable; in the end that’s all any of us can do.”

LáDeia Joyce embraced that guiding principle many years ago. She uses her voice and platform to speak about HIV treatment, prevention and life with that virus after learning of her diagnosis three years ago. In self-quarantine since Mid-March in response to the coronavirus, she’s had to make adjustments to her lifestyle.

For those living with HIV/AIDS during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s gotten even harder to maintain a sense of normalcy and it looks as though “normal” isn’t returning anytime soon.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there’s not enough data to show if HIV Positive people are at more risk of contracting COVID-19. However, there is a higher risk of sickness amongst those who are not on antiviral treatment and among those with a low CD4 cell count. HIV, over time, eats away at the cells that make up the majority of the immune system, leading to AIDS.

Daily routines have been upended as strict social distancing guidelines keep people away from each other in an attempt to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

“It just has me more heightened with interactions, it has me more heightened when it comes to just viruses and colds,” said Joyce. “It’s made me become more in tune with my body because now I have a chance to listen to it without a bunch of outside noise.”

The coronavirus, which was first reported out of the Wuhan Province in China in December 2019, has spread throughout the world, slowing life down as people adjust lifestyles to shelter in place.

More than 553,000 had been infected with COVID-19 in the United States, with 21,000-plus deaths as the Easter weekend unfolded. CDC scientists and spokespeople report that African-Americans are infected – and die – disproportionally.

“It’s made me more aware of the sanitation process, being more astute…,” Joyce said. “Not to say we weren’t doing what we were supposed to do, but where we failed and got lax on, what we’re supposed to do with cleanliness.”

Amid multiple and varying government mandates ordered to slow the virus’ spread, flatten the curve, limit the number of infections seen on a regular basis, there is no cure for COVID-19.

For many, testing positive for the coronavirus can feel like a scarlet letter.

“Some people feel stigmatized if they do get diagnosed with COVID-19,” Joyce said. “Correlate those feelings and those emotions to those who’ve been diagnosed with HIV.”

“This ain’t going nowhere anytime soon”

According to CDC figures, 37,382 people were diagnosed with HIV in 2018. Of those cases, 13,312 were African Americans.

DeWayne Murrell with PAIGE Memphis does outreach to the Black LGBTQ community in Memphis. Often, his responsibility has him addressing HIV treatment options that a person he is working with may not know exists.

“Knowing the nature of COVID-19, it is a respiratory-attacking type virus, so if a person is living with one of those pre-existing conditions, which is more likely in Shelby County (really in the South), that puts them even more at risk because their immune system is more compromised,” said Murrell.

The coronavirus’ spread has funneled much of life in the US online. That could trigger a health-care consequence, said Jasper Hendricks with Nashville Cares, an HIV/AIDS outreach group based in Middle Tennessee.

“We’re afraid people may fall out of care as things move to online,” said Hendricks.

Nashville Cares has been closed since late March in compliance with Nashville’s “safer-at-home” order directing people to remain in their homes, except to get essential services, until told otherwise.

Meetings now are being held by appointment only, with home visits brought nearly to a halt. With people requested to stay indoors and six feet apart, outreach is hard to do.

Murrell feels restless, restricted to his home. Still, he doesn’t understand why others aren’t doing the same. He encourages those needing care to consider all options, including tele-health services, if they are available. He also wants more advocacy for HIV Positive people.

“Even with folks who are living with their diagnosis, they’re not empowered and the community as a whole doesn’t do a good job as stewards over their care and empowering them to get up and speak for themselves,” he said.

“Until I see some people who are positive ready to go ahead and fight and I not just stand by and support, I’ll be on the front line.”

“Change your mindset inwardly”

“I don’t feel scared at all,” said LáDeia Joyce. “My mind says, ‘you’re prepared, not scared, but you also have to be alert and prudent with how you move.’” (Screen capture)

LáDeia Joyce knows that it’s not likely restrictions will be lifted anytime soon. She says we must embrace and tackle our everyday lives in a different way.

“I hope the world is going to be heart-centered and compassion-filled and I hope the world is going to be one that recognizes the essential people that got us through; because pre-covid-19, we didn’t value those people.”

Weeks ago she broke down – tears flowing – in front of friends as the COVID-19 pandemic intensified. Since then, she’s done her best to stay positive, regularly doing Facebook Live broadcasts and Facetiming friends and family.

“I don’t feel scared at all,” she said. “My mind says, ‘you’re prepared, not scared, but you also have to be alert and prudent with how you move.’”

She’s focusing her mind and energy and encourages other HIV Positive people to do the same during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Even though people say we’re self-quarantining, let’s just think of it as we’re taking a sabbatical,” Joyce said. “Change your mindset inwardly.”

A byproduct of the public health emergency may be a stronger sense of community, she added.

“Let’s use our thought process and our energy to manifest good things,” Joyce said. “I just hope and pray when we come out of this, this is one of the things we continue to do.”

Living through COVID-19: A trio of profiles – Part III

By

Special to TSDMemphis.com

-

04/18/2020

0

I love memphis — TSD Associate Publisher/Executive Editor Karanja A. Ajanaku, leaving the newspaper's Beale St. office after handling some short-term business. For the TSD, living through COVID-19 means producing remotely. (Photo: Karanja A. Ajanaku)

by Jerome Wright —

This is the third installment of The New Tri-State Defender’s ongoing account of three Memphians coping with the coronavirus amid government-directed efforts to slow the virus’ spread.

Seriously into couponing

The topic was couponing, the setting was a Zoom conference and the attendees were linked by Margaret Cowan’s nonprofit — I Am My Sister’s Keeper.

Cowan calls it a “village” of single working mothers working to gain greater financial independence. With the village adhering to social-distancing directives, the Zoom conference was the group’s second foray into gathering virtually.

One of the mothers, said Cowan, is seriously into couponing.

“As a single mom, you have got to save money any way you can and with less money coming in (because of layoffs and furloughs), saving money is important,” she said.

Last week, the group managed to gather on the parking lot of the Frayser-Raleigh Senior Center, practicing social distancing, of course. Cowan said they now are trying to arrange some kind of in-person social gathering, maybe on a Sunday; again, within social distancing guidelines.

Cowan said she has made good progress on developing a strategic plan for her nonprofit, with hopes it will lead to more corporate sponsorships.

Updating threads from earlier installments, Cowan said the hotel manager, who was laid off, was called back to work. And, another mother, who was laid off from her hotel job, was approved for a COVID-19 Hospitality Grant.

As to what she has been up to in her personal life, Cowan said cooking, which she loves to do, and selling plates.

“What if someone wants a shave”

William Gandy Jr. adores his four-year-old granddaughter, Brooklyn. His daughter brought her by his house on Tuesday. And while he and Brooklyn have been FaceTiming, it was the first time he had seen her in person in two or three weeks.

Seeing her was a welcome break from uncertainty. A barber, Gandy hasn’t worked at his Whitehaven barbershop since Mayor Jim Strickland issued a safer-at-home mandate last month. Barber and beauty shops are not considered essential businesses.

Last Saturday, Gandy and the other barbers at the shop engaged in a conference call, where the main concern was, “We’re all ready to go back to work.”

Gandy wonders what going back to work will look like. Will barbers or their clients, or both, have to wear masks? What if someone wants a shave, mustache trim or eyebrow arch?

An accomplished musician, singer, songwriter and author, Gandy knows those jobs also have dried up because of social distancing and safer-at-home mandates.

Since he has been off, he has finished a book five years in the making and completed composing a couple of songs. (Gandy’s “Barber Shop Blues” can be found on must Internet music platforms.)

Except for rare trips to the grocery, he has stayed at home.

Temporarily closed

The Lenny’s Grill & Subs franchise that James Cook operated at Memphis International Airport closed last week (April 10). Projected numbers forced his decision.

This week, he was working with another Lenny’s franchisee, whose company he has partnered with in the past.

From owner to employee and feeling ‘blessed’

Cook’s business situation at the airport got steadily worse. He is proprietor and partner with KC Eatery, which operates Runway 901 Bar & Grill and Lenny’s Grill and Subs.

He closed Runaway 901 after passengers through the airport dropped to a trickle because of the virus. He kept Lenny’s open, hoping that business from airport employees would help keep the business afloat.

Airport officials, however, reshuffled staff schedules to adjust to the virus situation, further reducing the number of potential customers.

On April 6, Cook was down to one employee and himself, and he had reduced operating hours.

Two days later, he was the only employee.

Two more days, and his Lenny’s Grill and Subs shop was temporarily closed.

With his grill and sandwich shop temporarily closed, James Cook landed work at another franchise location. (Photo: Gary S. Whitlow/GSW Enterprises)

Judge: Tennessee can’t prevent abortions during coronavirus

By

Associated Press

-

04/17/2020

0

by Travis Loller —

NASHVILLE — A federal judge Friday night ruled that Tennessee has to continue allowing abortions amid a temporary ban on nonessential medical procedures that’s aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman said the defendants didn’t show that any appreciable amount of personal protective equipment, or PPE, would be saved if the ban is applied to abortions.

In a hearing by phone Friday, attorneys representing several state abortion clinics argued that Tennessee women will face immediate harm if the ban on abortions is not lifted.

READ Judge Friedman’s decision

Alex Rieger, arguing for the Tennessee attorney general’s office, said abortions are not being singled out but treated like any other procedure that is not necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury. Gov. Bill Lee issued an emergency order on April 8 banning those procedures for three weeks.

The goal of the ban is to preserve the limited supply of PPE for doctors fighting COVID-19 and to help prevent the community spread of the disease by limiting patient-provider interactions, Rieger said. The two sides tangled over whether halting abortions would meet or undermine that goal.

Several other states are grappling with similar issues. Judges in the past week have ruled to allow abortions to continue in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Texas.

Genevieve Scott, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, argued that all pregnant women need care. About 1 in 5 pregnant women require hospital visits before labor, and 15-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriages. Even those women without problems require prenatal care and tests. All of that requires providers to use personal protective equipment and interact with patients, Scott said.

Rieger argued that most of what Scott described would take place a couple of months down the road and that “every piece of PPE we use now is a piece that is not available when this disease reaches its peak.”

Scott disputed that idea, saying the needs are immediate. She also noted that there is no guarantee the executive order will not be extended.

“Nothing in their arguments today suggests they really believe that in three weeks the issue will be resolved,” she said.

Abortion clinics have already turned away dozens of patients, Scott said. The longer an abortion is delayed, the greater chance of complications, she said. And the delay could prevent some woman from having an abortion altogether by pushing them past 20 weeks gestation, after which abortions generally are not available in Tennessee.

Rieger asserted that Tennessee has the power to restrict abortions in a public health emergency, citing a 1905 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court held that requiring citizens to be vaccinated for smallpox was a legitimate exercise of the state’s police powers to protect the health and safety of its citizens.

He suggested abortion providers don’t want to play by the rules that everyone else has to abide by.

“They want abortion to carry on in Tennessee as if COVID had never happened,” Rieger said. “Tennesseans are making extraordinary sacrifices. Abortion providers don’t want to sacrifice.”

Scott argued that abortion has been recognized as a constitutional right. And she said medical groups, including the College of Surgeons, which the state relied upon in crafting its executive order, recognize that abortion is essential care that should not be delayed.

“The state is singling out abortion as the only essential care excluded by the executive order,” she said.

Tennessee’s Republican governor often speaks of his Christian faith and has said he wants to enact some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, including banning women from undergoing the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

(Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.)

From owner to employee and feeling ‘blessed’

By

Special to TSDMemphis.com

-

04/17/2020

0

GSWE_0644 — With his Lenny's business shutdown, James Cook prepares a sandwich as an employee at another location. (Photo: Gary S. Whitlow/GSW Enterprises)

by Jerome Wright —

James Cook, 36, did not start his professional career expecting to be an entrepreneur.

Thanks to a friend and a desire to change careers, however, he became proprietor and partner with KC Eatery, which operated Runway 901 Bar & Grill and Lenny’s Grill and Subs at Memphis International Airport (MIA).

Both businesses are now shuttered, victims of a steep drop in the number of passengers arriving and leaving the airport, and a related reshuffling of airport employees’ work schedules, resulting from safer-at-home and shelter-in-place orders to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

James Cook works alongside Angela Henley, the manager of Lenny’s Sub Shop on Poplar near Humes. Henley once worked for Cook, who has had two close both of his businesses at Memphis International Airport. (Photo: Gary S. Whitlow/GSW Enterprises)

MIA President and Chief Executive Officer Scott A. Brockman said Tuesday that systemwide the number of passengers and employees passing through airports’ checkpoints are down 93 to 95 percent and that is mirrored in Memphis. MIA, he said, worked with its restaurants and gift shop vendors to have them shut down, if they can’t make it financially, and to help them prepare to restart when things return to normal.

With Cook closing Lenny’s last Friday, there is only one restaurant opened in the airport.

Businesses, especially small businesses, have been hit extremely hard as safer-at-home mandates cut revenues, forcing businesses to lay off or furlough thousands of employees.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., some 700,000 initial unemployment claims had been filed during a single week on record, according to data from the Department of Labor. During the week ending March 28, 6.8 million Americans filed initial claims.

The impact has been particularly devastating to African-American-owned businesses.

Mark Yates, president and CEO of the Black Business Association of Memphis, recently penned a letter to U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. President/CEO Ron Busby Sr. and USBC board of directors Chairman Charles O’Neal.

“While performing a back-of-the-envelope analysis – precipitated by COVID-19 – we quickly got to the potential negative economic impact COVID-19 will have on Black Businesses in the Memphis MSA.,” Yates wrote. “Based on our analysis, we calculated the negative impact to be anywhere between $205 million and upwards of $1.25 billion.”

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, realizing that small businesses were being hit extremely hard, on Monday announced the creation of two City of Memphis micro-loan programs.

Meanwhile, with his airport businesses closed, Cook now is working for a Lenny’s franchisee that his company has partnered with. He said he is “blessed” not to be missing a paycheck.

He graduated from Bishop Byrne High School in 2001 and then enrolled at Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he double majored in criminology and psychology, with a minor in theater.

He said all his Memphis friends, who were attending college in Tallahassee, were at Florida A&M University, including one who led him in the restaurant business.

The friend is James Kelly, whose mother is Edith Kelly-Green, a former FedEx executive who made national business headlines when she became the largest multi-unit franchise owner of Lenny’s Sub Shop. She was able get her son, who was working at ServiceMaster, into the business as an owner, Cook said.

Cook was working for AT&T, doing a lot of business-related travel, of which he was growing tired. James Kelly asked him to come work with him and he gladly accepted.

“I came on as an employee for the first year. Then we opened in the airport and developed a good relationship them,” Cook said.

When Delta Air Lines officially decommissioned Memphis International Airport as one of its hubs in late 2013, passenger flights in and out of Memphis nosedived. And, so did business customers. “We had to pull out of the airport,” Cook said.

He went to work at a Lenny’s in Whitehaven before airport officials approached them about coming back when another company, which operated about six food stations, pulled out.

“They asked for me by name,” he said because of the way his earlier business operated.

So, he left Whitehaven for the airport. By that time, he was a partner in the firm.

The company opened Runway901, the Lenny’s and a Wimpy’s Burgers and Fries. The Wimpy’s eventually closed.

Cook, who has operated businesses at the airport for about 10 years, is anticipating reopening his airport businesses.

While working at the Lenny’s on Poplar, this week, Cook was asked what was most fulfilling about his career as a restaurateur.

“Developing the business and people,” he said.

“I’m looking at a young woman right now, who is the manager (of this store). She started as a front-line worker seven years ago and now she is manager of her own store,” Cook said.

Three other women who once worked for him as front-line workers are now managers.

(Jerome Wright is deputy editor for The New Tri-State Defender. Email: jwright@tsdmemphis.com)

Pinpointing help for African-American businesses

By

Special to TSDMemphis.com

-

04/17/2020

0

myatesimage — Mark Yates, who runs the Black Business Association, said African-Americans in the business sector need to see "how we can flourish” by taking advantage...of potential opportunities in IT, remote working, and training and teaching.

by Jerome Wright —

Mark Yates, who heads the Black Business Association of Memphis, said the effect of the coronavirus on African-American businesses is “devastating. …We need to be working with alacrity to deal with this. This is a depression and action is needed now.”

Yates echoed the concerns of small business advocates nationally: Financial assistance is available, but mixed interpretations on what is needed to get the aid is making it difficult.

Back-of-the-envelope analysis, Yates said, projects COVID-19’s impact on Memphis’ African-American businesses to be “between $205 million and upwards of $1.25 billion.”

Post March 11, “we’re living in a new day,” said Yates. Going forward, “We need to see how we can flourish” by taking advantage, for example, of potential opportunities in IT, remote working, and training and teaching, he said.

Regarding small businesses, Joann Massey, director of the city’s Office of Business Diversity & Compliance, said, “These under-represented communities of business owners (minority- and women-owned business enterprises) receive less investment, fewer bank loans especially with first-come, first-serve programs.

“We must act now to help our small businesses survive. We need to also be intentional about doing that in an inclusive way.”

Mayor Strickland has announced efforts to help, including to loan programs for local businesses suffering under the pandemic. Those who qualify will include businesses denied Small Business Administration stimulus funding loans.

The Economic Hardship Emergency Loan Fund will offer loans of $2,000 to $5,000 per business with interest deferred for six months to businesses located in Memphis and that have been open at least three years, and that have less than $1 million in revenue annually. The loan will provide emergency working capital for expenses such as rent, mortgage payments, vendor payments and payroll, as well as insurance and utilities.

All businesses applying must be registered with the city’s Office of Business Diversity & Compliance.

A Small Business Resiliency Fund has been established. It will provide loans of up to $35,000 (federal Community Development Block Grant money) per business, with no payments for three months after the disbursement. Businesses that qualify must be located in Memphis, open for at least three years and have annual revenues of less than $1 million.

Applicants must have been denied funding by the Small Business Administration or an SBA lender, and also must be registered with the city’s Office of Business Diversity & Compliance.

For more information about these loan programs call 901-636-9300 or 901-636-6210; email Jerry.brack@memphistn.gov

The Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) is offering help ($5,000-$10,000) through its Neighborhood Emergency Economic Development grant program for businesses that remain open with a 25 percent or more drop in revenue and have a plan for 90 days of continuous operations.

Businesses closed as a nonessential business, with a plan for reopening within 90 days and a plan to stay open at least 90 days, could qualify for $5,000 under the terms of the EDGE grant program. All businesses applying for the EDGE grants must be in New Market Tax Credit qualified census tracts.

(For more information, call 901-341-2100 or email need@growth-engine.org.)

(Jerome Wright is deputy editor for The New Tri-State Defender. Email: jwright@tsdmemphis.com)

Bluesman Bobby Rush says he’s healing; quarantined until April 20

By

Special to TSDMemphis.com

-

04/17/2020

0

2-_2440048-2 — Bobby Rush photographed on Beale Street during the 2020 International Blues Challenge. (Photo: Joshua Branning)

by Tracy Sow —

Blues legend Bobby Rush has been suffering for the last few weeks with symptoms consistent with the coronavirus.

He has to remain in mandatory quarantine until April 20.

Immediately after his live social media performance March 24, Rush, 86, was rushed to a Jackson, Miss. hospital by his son and grandson. He was running a high fever, aching and coughing.

After being hospitalized, Rush was released and quarantined at his home. His private doctor administered a COVID-19 test that yielded inconclusive results.

Rush has since been tested by the state of Mississippi and has yet to receive the results. However, the state continues to deliver him two meals daily with no physical contact.

Speaking to Rush on Easter Eve was a drastic contrast to weeks earlier when every word sounded as if he was gasping for air and laboring just to give a short answer.

He was talkative and enthusiastic about his recovery. He credits God and his faith for his renewed strength. Many of his fans may not realize, he is the son of a preacher.

“Yes, my father pastored two churches most of his life and I learned a lot of spiritual things from him,” said Rush. “I don’t want to drag my beliefs on everybody, but I can tell you now God is real, and he is still in the healing business.”

Rush, Rhodes College’s inaugural visiting scholar of the arts and who taught blues in the schools for years, was asked what three things he would teach kids about blues today?

“It’s hard to tell you just three things but blues and gospel are the root of all-American music.

“The blues was founded by black people. Although, there are many white people and others that sing the blues, but I’m talking about where it comes from and that’s black people.

“I think everyone should know their history, culture and be proud of who you are,” he said.

In true Bobby Rush-style, he added, “What bothers me is back in the day there was a wah-wah pedal that guys invented for white guys to sound black.

“Now you got black guys buying wah-wahs to sound like white guys trying to sound black. That tells me they are either afraid or ashamed of themselves. Learn the richness of your culture.”

So, what’s left to do for Rush, who has won a Grammy, numerous Blues Music Awards and has performed in every major market in the world (he was the first blues artist in concert at the Great Wall of China)?

“I would love to perform in Africa and connect with the very root. It was on the slave ship that blues was incubated. I have visited, but I really want to perform in the Motherland.”

Joyful about feeling better, Rush said, “I just want to thank everyone that prayed for me. God heard those prayers and saw fit to heal my body. I need us to be kind to one another by adhering to social distancing, washing hands and please cover with a mask.”

Rush encouraged everyone who loves somebody to treat others with the respect that they want their loved ones shown.

Noting how disproportionately African Americans are dying from coronavirus, Rush made a plea to take the warnings and preventative measures seriously.

Here’s a snippet of Tracy Sow’s conversation with Bobby Rush

EXCLUSIVE: COVID-19 – Ayan’s international view

By

Special to TSDMemphis.com

-

04/17/2020

0

DSC_0098-cmyk — Seville is sunny, so Ayan Ajanaku makes a point to poke her head out of the window a few minutes each day. (Photo: Talia Guest)

by Ayan Ajanaku —

SEVILLE, Spain – I moved from Memphis to Spain in 2012. I’ve stayed because I like it. Now, like many people throughout the world, I can’t freely go to any of the places I love to visit. Spain is on lockdown, under siege by the coronavirus.

Worldwide, 107,000 deaths attributable to COVID-19 had been recorded by April 11 amongst 1.7 million confirmed cases, which included 396,000 recovered patients. April 11 also is the day the US total of 20,071 deaths pushed to the most in the world.

The US already had the most confirmed cases (518,000 as of April 11). Spain, with more infections (163,027) than any other country in Europe, reported 16,606 deaths and 59,109 recovered patients, also noting that its death rate had slowed.

The lockdown continues. Police patrol the neighborhoods. If you’re out after 7 p.m. (when things are ordered closed) or generally out looking like your loitering (and not grocery shopping), they will stop and question you. Not following the basic restrictions means fines that range from about $700 to $35,000, with more severe violations carrying fines in the hundreds of thousands.

Highways leaving out of cities are barricaded; you have to stop and explain to the police why you’re leaving.

I came to Spain to learn Spanish and to see Europe. I spent my first year in Madrid, the last seven years here in Seville. For four years, I helped teach English in public schools. Later, I transitioned to teaching English in academies. Now I teach English exclusively online.

After eight years of living in Spain I’m a bit better at really being where I am. Admittedly, when I’m annoyed about a process or outcome, I immediately start fantasizing about how things used to work when I lived in the US. As the late Bill Withers said, “Memories take you back to the good times when it’s over and the sad times disappear.”

I accept that my memories are just a kind of virtual reality; I don’t get too attached to them. That’s the position from which I look, indiscriminately, at the facts about the two cultures (in Spain and the US) and maintain my sanity during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Ayan Ajanaku teaches and sleeps in the same small space. So, her room is meticulously organized for her webcam, careful not to not show her bed. (Photo Talia Guest)

“Why has life not all but stopped there, like it has here?”

Facts: humans are substantively the same. Cultures are shaped by differing histories, which ultimately cause each country to have unique tendencies that must be examined, constantly, to foster and nurture growth.

My observation is that in the US the strongest narratives have themes of civil liberties and the pursuit of happiness. In Spain, the essence of a pervasive narrative is that we’re stronger, safer and better when we live together, fostering a more communal spirit.

These generalizations aren’t applicable across the board to every success and social problem, but they can generally help you to understand and perhaps accept why certain hurdles are more difficult or easier than others.

Case in point: When the state of alarm came out about a month ago in Spain to shut down the whole country, I saw Spain quickly moving into the lockdown stage while the US was lagging behind. My mind started to do what I always do – compare.

Gym workouts have become home workouts for Ayan Ajanaku and her roommate, who works from home now. (Photo Talia Guest)

I live in an 800-sq.-ft. apartment (no access to outdoor space) with my roommate, who has two kids that she has custody of half of the month.

Read the restrictions that me and most other citizens have been living under for the last month (and now just extended for another three weeks):

If you’re found going anywhere that isn’t the supermarket or a pharmacy, or if it even looks like a frivolous trip to the grocery store, you can get a ticket between 1300-15000 euros. Here in Seville, a woman was fined last week for a disputed trip to the store for essentials. She claimed the store didn’t have the diapers she needed, so she settled for candy. Authorities were not persuaded.
We can’t leave our apartments for exercise, walks. Parks are closed in addition to all non-essential businesses.
Not more than one person can be in a car.
You can’t walk your dog more than 50 meters from your home and you must do so alone.

“Meanwhile, on the same day the state of emergency was declared in Spain (March 14), my parents and Generation X sister are going on road trips.

And recently, in the midst of what now is widely accepted as a health crisis, one of my siblings in the US was getting together with a friend at her home for Sunday brunch.

I’m thinking, “What is that really about? Is it governmental policy, a cultural issue, ignorance or all of the above?”

Why has life not all but stopped there, like it has here?

My family isn’t an anomaly. Gun shops and churches are still open in many states. Wisconsin held an election with people lined up at the polls. And while gyms and most non-essential businesses are closed in the US, there are too few restrictions against outdoor activities in far too many places. A friend in Michigan said while running last week she passed a basketball court with several guys playing.

What happens when culture collides with a virus?

Every day at 8 p.m., neighbors come out to their windows or balconies to clap in appreciation for hospital workers. Musicians and DJs also play music. (Photo Talia Guest)

Democracy is a relatively new concept in Spain, only dating back to the late 70’s. Before that the country was ruled by dictatorship. While the idea of civil liberties is an important concept here, there’s no obsession. The thought of those liberties somehow overriding the community duty to keep everyone safe during a viral pandemic is unthinkable.

Instead there is this sort of understanding – solidarity – that it is right for the government to be empowered to make the swift changes needed to keep everyone safe. Yes, there were/are factions that continue to say that the “cure could be worse than the illness” from an economic perspective. That thought probably sounds familiar to many Americans.

In the US, priorities are much different. Personal liberties in most cases seem to trump everything else. Say and do what you want at all costs. Because if you can’t, then how could anyone be considered free?

But what happens when that culture collides with a virus?

The answer is, you get a slow response.

It’s the government’s fault you say? Well, we elected government officials. The government tends to act in a way that it feels its constituency will accept. In a capitalist country with a booming economy, a president risks all if she/he comes out of the gate saying shut everything down immediately before there has been a “significant” death toll.

Under such circumstances, the only thing that country could do is wait for people to die before making any significant changes. Or is it?

Understandably, shutting down countries too soon or too late could prove costly. And the decision must be made as folks at multiple turns are spouting statistics and making judgements in the midst of a global pandemic that is only four months old and unprecedented in the modern age.

Across the journalism spectrum, criticism is a constant theme, regardless of the country. Some of it is locked onto the fear that we might spend too much money in pursuit of making sure no life gets left behind.

Is that a sensible fear though? Do people really understand that such judgement paralyzes governments when it needs to act?

Paralysis in most cases is worse than moving in the wrong direction.

Perhaps one of the lessons learned from this pandemic will be how to empower our elected officials to truly guide and not be fearful of making the most conservative decisions necessary to protect life.

Buy now

Share this:

Share this:

Chattanooga allows drive-in church services after lawsuit

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: