Due to a continuous increase in COVID-19 cases the past few weeks, Tate County has been added to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves’ growing list of areas under mandatory mask orders.
Reeves said he implemented the mask mandates, which took effect Monday, Nov. 16 under his “Safe Recovery” executive order, in counties with the highest rate of new cases. These worsening numbers required “additional action,” Reeves said, with new executive orders issued “based upon the data.”
The new counties under the Governor’s mandate are Tate, Hinds, Madison, Pontotoc, Winston, Itawamba and Montgomery. The 15 counties already under the directive were Benton, Carroll, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Harrison, Humphreys, Jackson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Leflore, Lee, Marshall, Rankin and Yalobusha.
The mandate is set to run at least until Dec. 11, and requires residents of the aforementioned counties to wear masks and limit gathering sizes. Assemblage is limited to 10 people when indoors and 50 outdoors in situations where social distancing is not possible. Masks must be worn indoors in public places when a distance of six feet cannot be maintained between groups from different households. “The numbers are up, week over week. The virus is not getting significantly better,” Reeves said in a press briefing. “In fact, it’s getting marginally worse.”
Tate County has registered over 1,600 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March. An additional 169 cases of coronavirus were reported locally last week bringing the total to 1,633 with 49 deaths.
Mississippi, with a population of close to three million, has accumulated more than 143,000 positive cases of COVID-19, according to data from the Mississippi Department of Health. As of Monday, Nov. 23, a total of 3,676 people have died in the state as a result of the virus.
Rather than imposing a statewide mask order – which he did for a time in August and September – Reeves, for now, maintains a strategy of imposing targeted mask mandates in certain counties based on the level of COVID-19 transmission seen in those counties.
Reeves also urged all Mississippians to wear a mask, even if they live in counties where it’s not required. He cited research showing that face masks benefit not only to those around the wearers, but also the wearers themselves. “Wearing a mask helps,” Reeves said. “It helps you. It helps your family. It helps your friends.”
With the arrival of the Thanksgiving holiday, health officials are worried that numbers could rise even more. Physicians are urging families to stick to small gatherings and avoid large parties and events where vulnerable populations could be put at risk for coronavirus infection. “We don’t really want to see Mamaw at Thanksgiving and bury her by Christmas,” said Dr. Mark Horne, president of the Mississippi State Medical Association. “It’s going to happen. You’re going to say ‘Hi’ at Thanksgiving, ‘It was so great to see you,’ and you’re going to either be visiting by FaceTime in the Intensive Care Unit or planning a small funeral before Christmas.”
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said college students and other people returning home for the holidays should get tested before seeing family members and isolate themselves in the days before making a trip. “
We know that a lot of folks are going to go back home for the holidays, but we don’t want them taking coronavirus with them,” Dobbs said. “Right now, it’s time to take care of yourself, take care of your family and take care of your vulnerable because it is out there in force.”
