Photos show hundreds at Ying Yang Twins concert in Mississippi despite COVID mandates
Hundreds of people at a concert for acts like the Ying Yang Twins is a normal sight for a Saturday night, but not during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photos from a concert Aug. 8 at the South Mississippi Off-Road & RV Park showed a field full of people with no social distancing or masks.
The rap duo Ying Yang Twins posted on Instagram after the event, “They weren’t social distancing, but we was.” Also listed as performers were Choppa Style, the artist behind the unofficial anthem of the New Orleans Saints, and local DJ T Swan.
Gov. Tate Reeves issued an executive order Aug. 4 mandating masks across the state. The mandate included that Mississippians must wear a mask when they’re inside a business, school, any place open to the public, or when at an outdoor public space where social distancing isn’t possible.
Other venues like the Mississippi Coast Coliseum have adapted new protocols for concerts like socially distant tables, wearing masks and limited number of concert goers.
The South Mississippi Off-Road & RV Park on the morning of the concert posted on Facebook an “important notice” asking for attendees to follow “strict” guidelines for the concert.
“We need everyone to have a mask and also please spread out. There will be plenty of room to make this happen,” the post read.
Photos from the event show that those guidelines were not followed. The park did not respond to a request for comment.
In Facebook comments on the park’s guidelines post, someone mentioned the health department may have visited the venue, so the Sun Herald reached out to the Mississippi State Department of Health. According to MSDH spokesperson Liz Sharlot, it was not true.
“We were not involved in any effort to shut this down. It is up to local law enforcement to monitor their events and follow guidelines,” Sharlot said. “The MSDH does not recommend large gatherings at this time.”
The venue, located in Perkinston, Mississippi, is in the northeast corner of Hancock County, near the Harrison County line.
Sheriff learns 4,000 expected
The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office told the Sun Herald the department first learned of the concert the day before, Aug. 7, when the the Mississippi Department of Health requested an escort to check permits on food vendors, not the concert itself.
“At that time, we contacted the county attorney, requesting guidance on enforcement of the Governor’s Executive Order. We were advised that the ‘RV Park’ was exempt from the Governor’s order. As it relates to the concert, the order was interpreted to say that the order did not address that particular type of event,” Sheriff Ricky Adam told the Sun Herald.
Adam said the department was told that outdoor venues could hold events up to 25% capacity.
The ATV park is on approximately 400 acres of land and has no maximum capacity set on the property, according to Adam.
Saturday morning, the sheriff’s department met with the owner of the park, Brandon Necaise, while escorting the Mississippi Department of Health officials onto the property.
“We also learned at that time the park was expecting at least 4,000 patrons,” Adams said.
The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office was not a part of any security detail at the park during the event, but they received multiple images showing large crowds “that were completely disregarding social distancing guidelines.
Adam said this information and images were forwarded to county attorney Gary Yarborough.
Can governor’s rules be enforced?
Yarborough said the county is limited in what it can do after the “apparent lack of social distancing” at the concert.
Because it was on the acres of land that is not public, he said it’s difficult to set a capacity limit like what is done for other venues like football stadiums.
“This is a public health and safety issue,” Yarborough said. “We need people to be personally responsible. We can’t police everyone, and it also puts our officers at risk.”
Yarborough said with situations like Saturday’s concert, which had up to 4,000 people, enforcement is an issue.
“We’re given the right to enforce, but we don’t have the capacity to do that,” he said. “We are left with dealing with these measures on top of what we do every day. We can’t do it all and be everywhere at all times.”
“We just ask people to be good citizens. Most of us have been, restaurants and local owned businesses that are hurting because they’re complying. We need to work to come out the other end by working together and do what we need.”
South Mississippi Off-Road & RV Park has more concerts planned through September including the next one on Aug. 22 and a Labor Day Bash with a bikini contest and twerking competition.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 11:49 AM.