Member Article

City officials in Shelby County, Knox County, Hamilton County, Sullivan County, and Madison County have announced their respective plans to begin a phased reopening of non-essential businesses. Davidson County previously released its Roadmap to Reopening plan on April 24. Pursuant to Governor Lee’s Executive Order 29, the remaining 89 counties in Tennessee are required to follow statewide guidelines outlined in the Tennessee Pledge.

On Monday, April 27, local leaders from Shelby County, the City of Memphis, and the six surrounding suburban municipalities released the Back-To-Business Framework, a phased, data-driven plan to reopen non-essential businesses. In order to progress through each phase of the Back-To-Business Framework, each municipality must show a positive trajectory in the following metrics:

• Number of new cases remains stable or decline for 14 days
• Hospitalizations remain stable or decline for 14 days
• Hospitals have the capacity to treat all patients
• Testing and tracing capability must be efficient for containment of the virus

Each phase of the reopening guidelines details general recommendations that correspond with a sector-specific framework, which may be found here. While Shelby County and the City of Memphis’ shelter-in-place directives are set to expire on May 5, an official reopening date for Phase One of the framework has not been announced.

Phase Oneincludes the following recommendations:

• Operations remain status quo for entities currently deemed essential, provided they continue to meet the COVID-19 Compliant Protocol (CCP) conditions.
• Entities currently deemed non-essential, which have limited personal contact between staff and/or visitors, may re-open facilities with restrictions and limited occupancy as outlined in the sector-specific framework. This includes restaurants and gyms/fitness facilities.
• Purposeful groups of more than 10 are not permitted.
• Indoor and outdoor facilities and public spaces may open for general recreation and non-contact sports subject to the restrictions of the CCP.
• Non-essential manufacturers/distributors, as well as offices and call centers, may re-open with restrictions and limited occupancy as outlined in the sector-specific framework.
• Elective medical procedures that are deemed medically necessary may resume

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