She took photos at MS governor’s Christmas party as COVID rages. ‘I was stunned.’
At a Christmas party Wednesday night, Gov. Tate Reeves failed to follow the public-health guidelines he set out for Mississippians earlier the same day to curb the spread of COVID-19, which is now infecting more than 2,000 residents a day and has killed more than 4,000.
“I think what he did was wrong and showed a lack of leadership,” said Jackson photojournalist Suzi Altman, who photographed the party from outside the gates of the governor’s mansion with a telephoto lens.
Altman captured photos of people chatting on the mansion’s grounds while failing to stay 6 feet apart or wear masks, as Reeves has continually urged residents to do.
She told the Sun Herald that she hustled over to the mansion, about 25 minutes from her home, after a Jackson television station aired a segment on the party. Her photos wound up in a British tabloid, as nonprofit news site Mississippi Today reported, and quickly spread across social media.
“I was stunned, just stunned,” Altman told the Sun Herald. “I don’t think it was the best judgment to have these parties . . . I saw people attending the party closely clustered together and not wearing masks.”
Altman said she was observing party-goers on the grounds and also saw people exiting the governor’s mansion on Capitol Street, where the front door was open. She did not see anyone walking out of the mansion in a mask, either, she said, although they could have been wearing them indoors.
Reeves on Wednesday afternoon announced a statewide order that limits indoor groups to 10 and outdoor crowds to 50. The executive order did not require the wearing of masks outdoors.
But Governor’s Executive Order #1535 does say that Mississippians are “strongly encouraged” to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Mississippi State Health Department guidelines that masks be worn “while in public spaces whenever it is not possible to maintain a minimum of six feet of social distancing from persons not in the same household . . . “
Does governor agree with COVID advice?
Reeves said during Wednesday’s news conference that he respects Mississippi’s top health department official Dr. Thomas Dobbs and epidemiologist Paul Byers, both experienced disease fighters.
“They have been fantastic,” Reeves said. “ . . . That doesn’t mean that we agree on every single decision that has been made.”
Reeves has previously ignored public-health guidelines by going maskless to the Capitol while the Legislature was in session and to a state trooper’s funeral. Funerals are known for spreading COVID-19.
The Republican governor has more than once apologized for failing to follow public health guidelines, which he mentioned again Wednesday.
“Nobody’s perfect,” he said. “Look, I haven’t been perfect throughout this entire process and when I’ve maybe fallen a little bit short, I’ve tried to come here and admit to it and tell you and tell you that we’re going to try to do better next time.”
While legislators who went without a mask at the Capitol have caught COVID-19, Reeves has so far avoided the illness. He has been in quarantine and not long ago announced that the youngest of his three daughters had the coronavirus.
Dobbs, who speaks with Reeves as the regular COVID-19 news briefings, has avoided any criticism of the governor. But the Mississippi State Medical Association and leading physicians in the state have urged the governor to re-institute a statewide mask mandate as cases climb, hospital beds fill and health-care workers are in short supply.
Reeves also on Wednesday extended a statewide mask mandate to include 62 of 82 counties with high COVID-19 spread, including Hinds County, where the governor’s mansion sits.
MSDH: Avoid large gatherings
A message on the state’s health department page about the pandemic says:
“Due to rapidly rising COVID-19 cases, all residents of Mississippi should avoid any social gathering that includes individuals outside of the immediate family or household. MSDH recommends that Mississippians only participate in work, school or other absolutely essential activities, and avoid gatherings such as social events, sporting events, in-person church services, and weddings and funerals unless they involve only close family (preferably outdoors).”
Reeves has acknowledged that younger Mississippians are likely to overcome COVID-19, but spread the virus to older family members at greater risk of illness and death.
“Any time any Mississippian dies is a tragic event,” he said during Wednesday’s briefing. “It is something that we want to do what we can to minimize risk for the spread of the virus. There’s no doubt about that.”
Meanwhile, Reeves has lined up more Christmas parties, which he refers to as “events,” including separate gatherings for the House and Senate. The House has 122 members while 52 serve in the Senate. Reeves said he expects many legislators will choose not to attend, but visiting times will be staggered for the House if a large number decide to come.
“What I think it does is it allows us to really send a message to the people of Mississippi that you can return to a life that is somewhat normal, but you’ve got to do it in a way that minimizes risk, that mitigates risk, that does things like ensures that we only allow 10 people indoors at any one time,” Reeves said during his news conference.
After photographing the party Wednesday night, Altman had this to say about the governor’s upcoming social gatherings:
“Maybe he should rethink that. He’s not setting a good example. Our state needs him to do better.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 9:19 AM.
