Shelby County Health Department officials have determined that it’s safe to move to Phase III of the Back to Business Plan.

Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter has said that after checking the data from the analysis of a spike referenced on Tuesday (an alarming 192 new COVID-19 cases) it has been deemed safe to proceed to Phase III on Monday.

As of Friday morning, there were 6,443 reported cases in Shelby County, including 138 deaths.

Deaths from the virus in Shelby County are 66 percent African American, 31 percent White, and the remaining 3 percent other.

The Shelby County Health Department and their partners will resume distributing masks that initially had raised safety concerns.