Governor Reeves extends ‘Safer at Home’ order until August 3rd
Governor Tate Reeves extends the previous ‘Safer at Home’ order until Monday, August 3rd, adding 10 counties to the list of mandatory mask mandates.
The 10 counties added to the list of mask mandates are:
- Bolivar
- Covington
- Forrest
- Humphreys
- Panola
- Sharkey
- Simpson
- Tallahatchie
- Tate
- Walthall
Governor Reeves says he spoke with the White House Coronavirus Task Force and was told on June 27th the state of Mississippi had 490 confirmed COVID-19 cases in hospital beds across Mississippi. As of yesterday, Reeves said that number has risen from 490 to 909 in just three weeks.
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs says now there are 943 confirmed coronavirus cases that are hospitalized and 293 coronavirus patients in intensive care in Mississippi. “That puts us looking at about 40 percent of all of the ICU cases have coronavirus. That’s a phenomenal number and it continues to grow. Just Friday it was only 31 percent. So, we’re growing so quickly, it really tells us that we’re at the verge of really pushing our system over its capacity. In large measure, we’re already there. If we look at the number of hospitals that have zero ICU beds, currently that stands at 9 but, if we look at the number of ICU beds available for the four largest medical centers in the Jackson Metro area, there is one ICU bed currently available. So, again, very, very tight. We have 16 hospitals that have less than 10 percent of ICU capacity, again, that’s really kind of a pain point for us as far as ICU capacity is concerned.”
When asked about a statewide mask mandate, Governor Reeves is still dismissing the need for a state-wide mask mandate to protect people from coronavirus. “If I believed that was the best way to save lives in my state, I would have done it a long time ago. But yes, I do believe that wearing masks and maintaining social distancing is a strategy worth implementing.”
Governor Reeves released this statement on Twitter saying: “COVID-19 is spreading and killing in our state. It is not a hypothetical. It is happening. Today, I’ve extended our executive orders to mitigate the threat, adding 10 counties to the list of those with stricter measures in place.”
Masks are required in public gatherings and at retail environments. The 10 additional counties join Claiborne, De Soto, Grenada, Harrison, Hinds, Jackson, Jefferson, Madison, Quitman, Rankin, Sunflower, Washington, and Wayne.
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