Live updates April 11: Mizzou basketball player now Columbus ER doc fighting COVID-19

Mizzou basketball player turned ER physician in Columbus

Former Missouri Tigers basketball player T.J. Soyoye is now an emergency room physician at Piedmont Columbus Regional Northside, helping to fight COVID-19.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Soyoye played was recruited to play center and played for the Tigers for two years.

Now, the 6-foot-9 Soyoye has moved from the front court to the front lines of the fight against COVID-19, a lifelong dream for him.

“It never escaped my mind to become a physician,” Soyoye said. “Even though I was playing as a top player at that time.”

Columbus now has outpatient facility to treat coronavirus

MercyMed, believed to be the only facility in Columbus for outpatient coronavirus treatment, opened Friday with the goal of reducing the global pandemic’s local number of victims and hospitalizations.

The new service arose out of an alarming number of diagnoses from the mass testing MercyMed conducted April 3-6 in the parking lot of Cascade Hills Church.

“We were surprised by the amount of positives we had from those who probably wouldn’t have qualified (for testing) at the health department,” Dr. Grant Scarborough, founder and executive director of MercyMed, told the Ledger-Enquirer.

With help from about 120 volunteers, more than 1,200 area residents were tested during those four days, MercyMed development director Billy Holbrook said.

Columbus-area churches set up alternative Easter services

The impact of the coronavirus has been felt in the Chattahoochee Valley’s church communities, with many places of worship moving to online live stream Sunday services.

With Easter a day away, several churches, like Christ Community and Morningside Baptist will be live streaming their services only.

For a full list of churches with alternative services for Easter Sunday, click here.