Darrell Castle reports what he can see and experience in his city of Memphis, TN each day, and how its people and its government have reacted to the many restrictions placed on the lives of the citizenry and the economy.

Transcription/Notes:

A REPORT FROM THE BLUFF CITY—COVID 19 OR COVID 1984

Hello this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. Today is Friday May 22, 2020 the Friday before Memorial Day and the start of a three-day weekend when we are supposed to stop for a moment and remember the fallen. This is day 63 of house arrest for the Castle family, nine full weeks of full-fledged quarantine. The family daughter will spend Memorial Day weekend safe from the virus but unable to escape from a small island at the bottom of the world.  For the Castle Family Memorial Day just might be the last day of house arrest since we are all scheduled to return to the office on Tuesday.

The lock-down response to the virus makes it virtually impossible to celebrate the day as usual. No solemn observance at the veterans’ cemetery which Joan and I usually attend. No family cookouts in the park with children playing while parents eat and talk. It is all very sad but is it necessary? We will look at that question on this Report today. This report is based on what I can see and what I experience in my city each day, and on its people and its government. Memphis Tennessee is more than likely representative of Many other cities so most of us share the same experience.

My county of Shelby contains the city of Memphis and several incorporated suburban communities with a total county population of about 1.6 million. One of the first things one might notice in Memphis are the preparations for an event that has not and probably will not happen. For the most part our mayor has done a good job considering his responsibilities. I would not want his job right now and that’s for sure. Let’s consider what he has dealt with and the results of his decisions.

 I’m certain of why my wife and I are socially distancing and quarantined in our homes. We both meet one or more of the risk categories that make us members of the vulnerable group. I’m not sure and I ask the question of why the children and grandchildren must be quarantined. Why can’t the young go to work to feed their families and why can’t the young enjoy themselves, after all, isn’t there more to life than the mere avoidance of death, which is inevitable for all of us. Today we see only the obvious costs of the lockdown. The destroyed economy, unemployment soaring, destroyed businesses, marriage breakdowns, lives suspended and of course suicides. The worst will come later when the destruction of our currency hits us all.

The Memphis daily newspaper is the Commercial Appeal which is still printed but is no longer housed in the gigantic building it occupied before the Internet killed print news. That building is now a massive 401 bed hospital for Covid-19 patients. It was converted to a hospital by the Army Corps of Engineers at a cost of more than $100 million. The Commercial Appeal headlines announced the transformation in glowing terms, and the text explains the types of patients the hospital will care for. There is a picture of the Tennessee governor talking with a Major General from the Corps of Engineers, about the completion of his work.

The article admits that there are exactly zero patients in the hospital, and it is hoped that there never will be. I have read through other sources to believe that hospital capacity in Memphis is less than 50% and ICU occupancy is less than that. Doctors have recently returned to performing non-emergency surgery so I imagine the occupancy will increase. Will there ever be a single patient at the new hospital, or will it just sit there manned and ready as a monument to over reaction?

The virus and the reaction to it have caused other problems in Memphis as I imagine it has in most places. So far,