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Shelby County medical expert said promising signs but hurdles ahead in COVID-19 containment effort

Positivity rate remains above 10%, but 14-day average of cases trending down.

MEMPHIS, Tenn — Monday, Baptist Memorial Hospital infectious disease expert Dr. Steve Threlkeld expressed a mix of cautious optimism and concern about the state of COVID-19 containment in Shelby County. 

"It's very encouraging, it's a great thing it's down but we are only getting into the area that we are beginning to need to be, we can't by any stretch of the imagination decide that we are done here," Dr. Threlkeld said.

Proof of those hurdles remain, as COVID-19 cases pop up at some area schools and colleges reopening with in-person learning, including a cluster last week at Collierville High School.

"It's not a big surprise that this was going to happen in several locations, you just hope this won't happen in several schools, certainly it was a calculated risk to have in-person classes," Dr. Threlkeld said.

A Collierville district spokesperson confirmed five COVID-19 cases last week at the high school and 318 identified close contacts. That forced a move to virtual learning there for the next two weeks.

Dr. Threlkeld said it's imperative those contacts spend the entire 14-day period in quarantine. 

"You might not be contagious until 10 days and sick on the 12th day," Dr. Threlkeld said.

On the national level, Dr. Threlkeld disagreed with the Food and Drug Administration's commissioner, who floated the idea over the weekend of authorizing a COVID-19 vaccine before all clinical trials were completed.

"I think it's a bad idea in general unless there's an extraordinary maneuver that the death rate in this country is not so high that we need to jump over hurdles of safety and efficacy," Dr. Threlkeld said.

Next Tuesday - September 8th - will be six months said the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Shelby County.

As of Monday, there are now more than 27,000 cases in Shelby County, accounting for about three percent of the county's total population.

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