Shelby County health officials link county’s coronavirus outbreak to Mardi Gras

SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. (WMC) - Shelby County health officials say they know what led to the spread of COVID-19 in our area.

According to the Shelby County Health Department, in early March the first reported cases of the novel coronavirus were two people who went to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Tuesday the health department said after investigating, Mardi Gras is how the coronavirus first came to Shelby County.

The state of Tennessee now says Shelby County has 428 cases of the COVID-19 and there have been three deaths of people between 50 and 60 years old. Almost 4,700 people have been tested.

Alisa Haushalter head of the health department points out that most of the cases of coronavirus in Shelby County are not elderly people.

“We are still continuing to see that the majority of our cases are in individuals below 60 and a significant number really over 40% are between 21 and 40," said Haushalter in a daily briefing Tuesday.

Haushalter says it is important to remind people to practice social distancing -- the implication younger -- people are not doing that. It means staying 6 feet away from people.

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