Gov. Reeves issues COVID-19 mask mandates for 13 counties including 2 on MS Coast
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is mandating masks and limiting social gatherings by early next week in Harrison, Jackson and 11 other counties with high spread of COVID-19, he said at his regular news conference Thursday afternoon.
Reeves said his executive order will be coming shortly.
He said masks must be worn in these counties in “all shopping environments” and at social gatherings. Social gatherings in the counties will be limited to 10 indoors and 20 outdoors.
Counties on the list have had 200 new cases within 14 days, or an average of 500 cases per 100,000 people.
Other counties on the list are Hinds, DeSoto, Rankin, Washington, Sunflower, Jefferson, Grenada, Madison, Clairborne, Wayne and Quitman.
“Mississippi is in a fight for our lives,” Reeves said. “COVID-19 is an ever-present threat and we are in the middle of a spike.”
COVID-19 cases in Harrison County have increased by 478 in the last two weeks, while cases in Jackson County have increased by 269. Harrison County has 451.5 total cases per 100,000 people, while Jackson County’s total is 445.3 per 100,000.
There is no change to the current rules for restaurants, casinos or bars. “But I want to warn everyone, if the number of cases continues to grow then we’re gonna have to look at additional measures.” the governor said.
Reeves also said the new mandate will not apply to churches because he does not believe government can restrict religious services. But churches, he believes, are generally doing a good job of following public health guidelines such as social distancing.
He also said the healthcare system is under strain, the main thing he and public health officials wanted to avoid when they issued shelter-in-place orders that ran from April 3-27.
Most retail businesses were allowed to reopen April 27, even though Mississippi did not meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for relaxing those restrictions. Re-openings included crowd limits for businesses, but no mask requirements.
The Mississippi State Health Department reports that a total of 33,591 people have tested positive for COVID-19 since the first case was diagnosed March 11 and a total of 1,204 have died.
“Make no mistake,” he said. “The risk is present everywhere. The virus is in all our communities.”
Reeves said he hopes that added restrictions in counties where cases are spiking will serve as a wake-up call and slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
He said he does not expect law enforcement officers to write tickets for violations of the new executive order. Instead, he hopes officers will break up crowds or stop other violations when they see them.
“Please take this as an alarm,” he said. “Our numbers are getting worse. We need your cooperation.”
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 3:03 PM.
