Reeves urges MS residents to wear masks on Facebook Live. Why doesn’t he wear one?
Gov. Tate Reeves has racked up well over a million views on Facebook for weekday updates on COVID-19, but he hasn’t used the opportunity to lead by example and wear a face mask.
State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs walks to the news conference table daily with a mask on his face, but Reeves and regular attendee Gary Michel, executive director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, always arrive bare-faced.
The three men do practice social distancing at the news conference, sitting at least 6 feet apart.
Responding to a Sun Herald question at the Monday news conference, Reeves said:
“I do have a mask. We had some fantastic masks that were delivered to us anonymously that really look good.”
The masks are inscribed, “Mississippi Strong,” he said.
He said his wife, Elee, wears a mask on rare trips to the grocery store.
The governor, on the other hand, said he rarely ventures out because he is occupied 24/7 with the state’s COVID-19 response and is pretty much confined to one square block of the Capitol.
He said that he has worn a mask on several occasions when he has been out in public.
His Saturday morning runs would not be one of those occasions. He said that he rarely encounters anyone while exercising around the Capitol on the weekend.
He used the occasion to urge that Mississippians wear masks, as he has done many times during his Facebook Live updates.
“Anyone can write that story that the governor’s out in public not wearing a mask but, again, it’s about risk factors,” he said, “and it’s about making sure that people will understand that they’re trying to take care of themselves but, also, not only take care of yourself but take care of your friends and take care of your family members.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
