Weekly Update

Friends,

As I said earlier this week, the death of George Floyd was not the beginning of our problems with race, police brutality, and inequality in our nation, but it will be the beginning for meaningful and long-lasting change in our community and cities across our country.

Like so many of you, I’m deeply concerned about the seeds of inequality that have moved so many in our community and citizens around our country to march. We must do more.

Yesterday, I signed onto the Obama Foundation and My Brother’s Keeper Alliance Pledge to do four things:

1. REVIEW our police use of force policies.
2. ENGAGE our community by including a diverse range of input, experiences, and stories in our review.
3. REPORT the findings of our review to you and seek feedback.
4. REFORM our police use of force policies.

Across our country while so many cities were dealing with violent protests, here in Memphis our demonstrators let their united voices be heard in a mainly peaceful and powerful manner. On Wednesday, I had the chance to meet with activist and community leaders to hear from them directly, and to thank them for the way they’ve conducted their groups over the last ten days. At that meeting, we committed to get together once a week for the next four weeks to discuss our way forward—together.

In case you missed it, this was the scene from Tuesday night’s gathering. It was truly an amazing sight—people from all walks of life, all races and backgrounds coming together for a united cause.

In addition, I want to thank the men and women of the Memphis Police Department. Over the last several days, they’ve shown great restraint while working long hours under a tremendous amount of pressure. While there is always room for improvement and more training (and we’re going to keep doing both) every day they risk their lives to keep us safe, and I am eternally grateful for that fact.

For those questioning the need for change, please know that there have been countless and recurring incidents like what we saw in that horrific video involving Mr. Floyd for the lifetime of our great nation. Also recognizing these dangerous disparities and the risks to black lives does not lessen the importance of others’ lives or our appreciation for the service and sacrifices of our dedicated police officers. But, in this moment, we must focus our hearts and minds on overcoming racism and our actions toward former President Obama’s words, “specific evidence-based reforms that would build trust, save lives, and lead to a decrease in crimes too”.

A closer look at the numbers: Below is a chart that takes a look at our COVID-19 data points over the last several weeks.

Counts per day	Tests Reported	Test Positivity Rate (%)	Confirmed Cases	Estimated COVID Hospitalized	Estimated COVID ICU Hospitalized	Deaths
4/2/2020	150	7.5	2
4/3/2020	1022	-29	66	83	28
4/4/2020	335	9.8	48	83	28
4/5/2020	401	14.4	35	99.2	33.1
4/6/2020	439	6.7	56	91.8	35
4/7/2020	559	11.4	52	99.4	38.4	3
4/8/2020	729	7.9	52	120.6	43.5	2
4/9/2020	1303	11.4	100	126.2	48	2
4/10/2020	555	8.5	98	122.4	48	1
4/11/2020	343	10.4	69	118	54	0
4/12/2020	849	12.5	53	104	48.4	0
4/13/2020	737	17.9	82	102	40.4	4
4/14/2020	653	13.5	81	101.6	40.4	1
4/15/2020	585	14.9	76	100.3	46.2	1
4/16/2020	1386	9.8	108	102.5	49.8	3
4/17/2020	354	8.5	115	100.7	49.8	2
4/18/2020	805	5.9	35	107.7	50.1	0
4/19/2020	983	9.3	41	114.4	40.8	1
4/20/2020	621	6.7	50	102.8	44.4	1
4/21/2020	499	7.9	37	91.3	40.5	2
4/22/2020	446	7.5	37	101.4	42.2	0
4/23/2020	894	5	50	101.9	45.1	2
4/24/2020	855	14	57	99.4	42.2	1
4/25/2020	1460	4.9	95	104.9	42.2	1
4/26/2020	1329	11.5	187	95.1	41.5	0
4/27/2020	449	4.6	38	105.7	41.2	1
4/28/2020	733	5.7	45	112.7	43.5	0
4/29/2020	1643	3.1	81	112.2	48.8	1
4/30/2020	1306	6.2	72	103.8	47.1	3
5/1/2020	1347	5.8	98	116.2	54.5	3
5/2/2020	1483	9.6	95	110.3	51	0
5/3/2020	1636	7.1	101	115.5	49.8	0
5/4/2020	641	4.7	72	113.4	45.7	4
5/5/2020	691	5.4	26	118.5	46.5	1
5/6/2020	1650	5	92	122.1	46	6
5/7/2020	1467	7	73	114.8	46.2	2
5/8/2020	616	3	27	121.9	51.3	1
5/9/2020	1435	3.5	90	112.1	51.9	0
5/10/2020	1843	3.8	85	103.8	48.2	0
5/11/2020	1667	5.3	106	117.9	51.6	5
5/12/2020	1212	6.4	41	123.7	52.9	4
5/13/2020	1326	4.9	61	141.6	52.5	2
5/14/2020	1686	5.4	46	120.6	53.6	4
5/15/2020	1634	3.3	72	126.5	42.7	2
5/16/2020	1775	6.4	78	123.8	48.6	0
5/17/2020	738	5.2	42	122.6	48.8	1
5/18/2020	2565	4.2	116	141.2	48.2	3
5/19/2020	1701	4.7	128	153.9	56.9	0
5/20/2020	1424	5.8	29	156.5	56.7	3
5/21/2020	1400	5.3	49	147.8	54.3	0
5/22/2020	1865	6.4	100	148.5	58.7	1
5/23/2020	1868	7.3	126	139.8	54.8	1
5/24/2020	1761	10.9	95	132.8	49.1	0
5/25/2020	2107	8.2	127	148	55.8	1
5/26/2020	821	8.7	50	153	56.3	8
5/27/2020	1419	8.5	122	141.1	58.6	3
5/28/2020	1019	5.7	90	140.2	58.6	3
5/29/2020	1633	7	115	155.6	77.4	1
5/30/2020	1454	6.7	95	148.7	65.7	0
5/31/2020	2317		121	133	63	0
6/1/2020	2474		190	139	65	4
6/2/2020	1610		98	133	60	3
6/3/2020	1724		132	134	55	4
6/4/2020	1033		87			2

Mayor’s Meal Challenge: Several weeks back, I issued the Mayor’s meal challenge and so many of you stepped up to help our local restaurants during these difficult times. As part of the challenge, I also committed to donating $2,500 to the Mid-South Food Bank and asked those of you that could to lend your support to them as well.

Not only did hundreds of you participate in the challenge by getting take-out from your favorite restaurants, but we were able to raise $27,828 for the Mid-South Food Bank. With those funds, they were able to provide 83,484 meals to members of our community that are struggling with food insecurity.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Have a great weekend!

Yours,