Timeline shows every Reeves decision as Mississippi reopens while COVID-19 cases climb
The timeline below details Gov. Tate Reeves’ executive orders designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 while at the same time showing how cases have increased.
March 11: Mississippi reports its first case of COVID-19 while Tate Reeves is on a family trip to Spain and the World Health Organization classifies the virus as a pandemic.
March 14: Back home, Reeves declares a state of emergency.
March 16: Tate Reeves hosts a Facebook Live that gets 226,000 views. He says Mississippi has “all the tests we need at this time.” The most accurate information available, from the COVID Tracking Project that pulls from state and hospital testing reports, show that Mississippi had tested 94 people before he spoke and tested an additional 195 on the day of his Facebook Live.
Testing did ramp up over the coming days and weeks, as he said it would, but numbers have swung widely, with less than 200 tests reported some days and thousands of tests on others.
March 24: Reeves issues an executive order that applies through April 17, telling Mississippians they must avoid groups of more than 10, based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The order limits dine-in services at restaurants and bars to 10 or fewer people, prohibits visits to hospitals or long-term care facilities and exempts “essential business from the crowd restriction, including hotels, auto dealerships, healthcare facilities, essential government functions, manufacturing, grocery stores, convenience stores, hardware and building materials, financial services, religious organizations, the construction and defense industries and others.”
March 26: Reeves amends his executive order, allowing localities to adopt more restrictive rules than the state has ordered so long as essential business operations are unimpeded. His clarification came because the March 24 order threw local governments into confusion. Some had already adopted tougher restrictions than Reeves did, including curfews and limiting restaurants to pickup or delivery.
March 31: Coast cities, faced with a COVID-19 spread in New Orleans, set curfews, close restaurants to all but pick and delivery and limit occupancy at other retail outlets. Reeves issues his first shelter-in-place order for Lauderdale County in east central Mississippi.
April 1: Reeves expands the shelter-in-place order statewide from the evening of April 3 until Monday, April 20. As he did in Lauderdale, he notes that essential businesses do not include gyms, dance studios, tattoo parlors, spas, salons or barber shops. He also closes all places of amusement and recreation areas, including beaches, lakes and reservoirs, but excluding walking trails.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases have for the first time climbed above 1,000 and 22 deaths have been reported.
April 10: Reeves orders all healthcare professionals and facilities to postpone elective surgeries through April 27.
April 17: The shelter-in-place order is extended until April 27.
Nonessential businesses can reopen for retail sales limited to pickup or delivery. Beaches, lakes and reservoirs can open but state parks remain closed. Gatherings are still limited to 10 people.
April 22: Reeves closes public school buildings for the rest of the academic year.
April 24: Reeves issues a new Safer At Home order from April 27 until May 11, loosening restrictions that advise only individuals vulnerable to the virus — those 65 or older or with underlying health conditions — to remain at home.
Retail businesses can open stores at 50% capacity or less. Personal grooming businesses and places of amusement remain closed, and restaurants and bars are still limited to pickup or delivery; social distancing is required and groups are still limited to 10.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mississippi have risen to 5,434 with 209 dead.
May 4: A new executive order from Reeves extends Safer at Home until May 11 but further loosens restrictions.
Beginning May 7, restaurants and bars can resume indoor service with a seating capacity capped at 50%, detailed safety precautions and social distancing. Employees are required to wear masks; customers are not.
State parks, municipal and private parks and outdoor recreational activities are allowed, with limited hours. Indoor activities are limited to groups of 10, outdoor activities to groups of 20.
Reeves announced the loosening of restrictions on Friday, May 1, when the state had its highest number of daily COVID-19 cases reported to date: 397.
May 8: Gov. Tate Reeves reopens hair and nail salons, barber shops and gyms in an executive order that runs until May 25. The order includes social distancing and sanitation rules. His order does not mention a reopening time, but he says that he expects reopenings Monday morning, after the establishments are cleaned and sanitized, which is required.
In grooming establishments, customers and employees must wear masks. In gyms, employees only must wear masks and occupancy is limited to 30% of maximum.
Reeves says he is compelled to reopen the economy because it is worse nationwide than it has been since the Great Depression. He says he does not want families to lose all they have worked for and face starvation.
The number of COVID-19 cases reported daily for the first time rose above 400, to 404. Mississippi now has a total of 9,090 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 409 deaths.
