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According to the state's health disparities dashboard, Black residents of Shelby County have higher rates of infections, hospitalizations and mortality than white residents. MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Rosalyn Campbell and her husband, Calvin, are waiting for what may be the most in-demand item on the planet: the COVID19 vaccine. After early data showed residents in affluent and predominantly white neighborhoods were the primary vaccine recipients, the Dallas, Texas, County Commission decided in mid-January to target the most vulnerable ZIP codes. The latest national government data shows that when the race of the person getting the vaccine is known, Black residents are underrepresented; just over 5% of vaccine recipients were Black, compared to just over 60% who were white. [Extracted from the article]

SCHD Director Dr. Alisa Haushalter said the department was surprised by how quickly appointments were claimed, but health equity experts say the SCHD should have anticipated the response. PHOTO (COLOR): Health care workers prepare to administer the COVID-19 vaccine at the Pipkin Building on Tuesday, the first day in a 15-day stretch during which the vaccine will be distributed to eligible Shelby County residents. [Extracted from the article]

A year after Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare erased the $33,000 Carrie Barrett owed for unpaid hospital bills, the former Kroger grocery store clerk is figuring out how to open the food truck she's always dreamed of. For years, so many defendants sued by Methodist came to court that their cases consumed almost all of a courtroom's docket on Wednesday mornings, when a judge would hear nothing but Methodist's cases. When I met Barrett, she was in court, facing off with Shelby County General Sessions Court Judge Betty Thomas Moore, who'd ordered her to pay $100 a month toward the debt. [Extracted from the article]

PROFITING FROM THE POOR Dec. 4, 2020, 1:30 p.m. EST We reported how Memphis' largest hospital system suedthousands of poor patients. In response to the MLK50-ProPublica articles, Methodistdropped thousands of lawsuits against patients and has onlyfiled two additional lawsuits for unpaid hospital bills since July2019. [Extracted from the article]

A Temp Worker Died on the Job After FedEx Didn't Fix a Known Hazard. Between 2016 and 2019, more than 70 injuries were reported atthe site where Stanberry was hurt and Young was fatally injured,according to a log that FedEx turned over to the state as part ofits investigation into Young's death. "They Said I Couldn't Touch Him" Young started working at FedEx in mid-October 2019, hired ataround $14 an hour by Volt Workforce Solutions, a temporaryagency that supplied workers to FedEx. A Volt manager said she could not comment on the "tragic"incident that killed Young, but she did say FedEx is still a clientand that all Volt temporary workers there are supervised by afull-time FedEx employee. [Extracted from the article]

The Police Have Been Spying on Black Reporters and Activists for Years. I Know Because I'm One of Them: Wendi C. Thomas is a black journalist who has covered police in Memphis. The man, rarely identified in photos, is Marrell "Mac" McCollough, a Memphis cop who was assigned to infiltrate a militant activist group hated by Memphis police. PHOTO (COLOR): Wendi C. Thomas learned during a police surveillance trial that the Memphis Police Department spied on her and three other journalists. [Extracted from the article]

They Were Labeled "Essential" but Didn't Feel Safe.: PFS, which packs and ships jewelry and cosmetics, stayed open even as employees have tested positive for coronavirus. "And the vast majority of temp workers and many warehouse workers work for employers with more than 500 employees." "Black workers make up 12% of the workforce but 26% of temp workers, and Latino workers make up 16% of the workforce but 25% of temp workers", said Padin, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data released in 2018. When a worker tested positive at a PFS distribution center in southeast Memphis, the employee, who worked at a Southaven, Mississippi, location about eight miles away, worried that the virus could spread if workers were shuffled between sites. [Extracted from the article]

Nike Turned Away a Public Health Official From Its Warehouse Days After a Worker With COVID-19 Died: The Health Department received a complaint that a Nike warehouse wasn't being cleaned thoroughly or allowing for social distancing. On May 6, the spokeswoman said, a Health Department employee toured Nike's Frayser facility to review safety protocols after an employee's complaint. On May 18, after a reporter interviewed Randolph for this story, a Health Department employee contacted Nike's environmental health director "to follow-up on positive employee cases, gather more details and begin contact tracing", the company spokeswoman said. PHOTO (COLOR): A temporary worker sits outside a Nike distribution center in Memphis, Tennessee, where a Health Department worker was turned away. [Extracted from the article]