Gulfport Mayor statement on ‘Safer at Home’ orders

Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes has released a statement in regards to Governor Tate Reeves’ new ‘safer at home’ orders.

“The City of Gulfport plans on following the provisions of Gov. Reeves’s new order, with one exception.  Instead of the 50 percent occupancy allowance for retail operations, we will change our present limitation from 10 percent to 20 percent.  This will likely stay in place through next week.”

“Our experience in going from five percent to 10 percent a couple of weeks ago showed that stores will make an effort to control crowds. Our data indicates that normal crowds (with the exception of special sales days – Black Friday, etc.) are usually around the 20 percent mark for most establishments.”

“Given our proximity to the Covid-19 epicenter of St. Tammany Parish, we remain concerned over the prospects of adopting a measure that could be interpreted as an elimination of the need for stores to monitor customer capacity counts.  In any case, it is critical that the public continue to observe the sanitation and social distancing protocols, wherever they are.”