Good Wednesday morning from Memphis, which has officially passed the one-week mark since the county went into shelter-in-place mode. Feel free to celebrate with a shirtless Jack Black-style TikTok dance. But first ...

One case.

That's all it was — just one resident at an assisted living facility somewhere in East Memphis tested positive for the rapidly spreading novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. And even though the Shelby County Health Department knew about this one case a "few weeks" ago, it didn't immediately notify other patients and their families that their loved ones were at risk of a potentially dangerous outbreak.

And then there were two cases — but still no notifications.

And then six.

Weeks after the first case, the Shelby County Health Department and the assisted living home are only now notifying patients and family members, our Micaela Watts and Katherine Burgess report. And if you're wondering why it took so long, it's likely the same reason the county took so long to disclose the name of the facility, which the health department confirmed today is Carriage Court of Memphis, 1645 W. Massey Rd.

In a statement yesterday, County Attorney Marlinee Iverson argued that releasing the name of the nursing home would violate the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (more commonly known as "HIPAA"), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, and create a "stigma and discrimination" against facility residents. But HIPAA protects the information of patients, not health care providers, and the CDC guidelines make no mention of not disclosing nursing home names.

But the county has apparently and prudently reversed course.

In a text message this morning, Harris said the county "worked a lot on this yesterday," and was planning to release more information soon, including the number of coronavirus cases by ZIP code, which you can see here:

"Everyone is working hard, virtually non-stop," he wrote.

From all of Shelby County: Thank you. This was the right call.

This is a public health crisis, and the public has a right to know the when, how and where COVID-19 is spreading in the community. And instead of arguing unconvincingly that the public should be kept in the dark, the county should be giving the public as much information as it can without endangering patients' privacy.

And naming the assisted living facility experiencing the outbreak doesn't by itself expose any patients. Likewise, informing residents and their families that an undisclosed resident has the coronavirus isn't a HIPAA violation; it's a public service announcement.

“It was not an outbreak. It was a single case," Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter said yesterday, defending the county's decision not to immediately inform residents and their families. But that's the thing about outbreaks — they start with a single case. And then there are two. And then six. Then maybe more.

Similarly, this is just one assisted living facility in a county full of them. But the county was right not to wait until there were two, or six or more before disclosing locations.

Mayor Harris won his election on a promise to put the county's focus on helping residents, and while this isn't exactly what he had in mind, this is his time to shine. Because what the county's residents need now, more than ever, is an open and transparent government that doesn't hide the facts about the virus and its dangers.

Maybe this is the turning point.

By the numbers: COVID-19 in Memphis

As of Wednesday morning, here are the coronavirus numbers for Greater Memphis:

Across Greater Memphis: 657 cases, 4 deaths

'Mista' Strickland 'don't play' on parks

Project Pat, the legendary Memphis rapper, yesterday posted a "hood service announcement" on Instagram encouraging people to abide by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland's "Safer at Home" order, our Bob Mehr reports.

Here's the announcement, along with a presumably touched-up photo of Strickland sporting gold teeth titled "Mista Don't Play" — a reference to Strickland's decision this week to limit access to parks to reduce the number of people violating his order:

Germantown Country Club loses buyer

The latest casualty of the novel coronavirus is the deal to sell the Germantown Country Club to Arizona-based developer Millennium Cos., our Corinne Kennedy reports.

In a statement Tuesday evening, Millennium said it was pulling out of the agreement because discussions with neighboring residents created "continuous delays" and because representatives of the trust selling the club weren't willing to extend the kicking-the-tires period despite the economic uncertainty created by COVID-19.

Here's an excerpt from the company's statement, as reported by Corinne:

"We enjoyed meeting and getting to know numerous members of the community, especially those whose homes front the shuttered golf course and club. Although we were pleased with the support we ultimately earned from many members of the community, the many buffer accommodations required us to rework the plan as many as 10 times, slowing the entire process and even stopping work entirely on several occasions. These delays added up, eventually pushing us up against a national health crisis and severe stock market fluctuations."

So, what's next? It's back to the drawing board. Before the seller settled on Millennium, a host of other prospective buyers had emerged, including the city of Germantown, but whether they'll want to buy a club during a global pandemic is an open question.

What else is happening in the 901

The Fadeout: Skinny Powers

Skinny Powers, a Memphis studio collaboration between musicians from Tennessee and Arkansas, has joined the growing number of artists forced to look for virtual audiences by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Fading us out, here's the band's live performance of its song "Another Version of Me" from the 2019 album "What's a Genre?"...

Like The Fadeout? Check out The 901's Spotify playlist

Columnist Ryan Poe writes The 901, a running commentary on all things Memphis. Reach him at poe@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter @ryanpoe.

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