State leaders discuss COVID-19 recovery during televised Town Hall

Earlier tonight, Governor Tate Reeves and state health leaders sat down for a town hall forum to discuss the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

State officials like Dr. Thomas Dobbs and MEMA Executive Director Stephen McCraney answered the public’s questions regarding COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the state’s recovery from virus related issues in tonight’s Mississippi town hall.

The town hall was televised across the state, including on our WXXV CW Channel, and it focused on the road to recovery.

The town hall kicked off with a discussion of the recent news regarding the Johnson and Johnson vaccine with Governor Reeves and Dr. Dobbs stressing continued communication with the public regarding those developments.

In terms of the big picture, Reeves hopes as the rate of vaccinations continue to rise, they will become readily available at more locations including doctor’s offices, pharmacies, and supermarkets.

The governor also responded to recent national and local criticisms about the lack of a mask mandate within the state. “There has been no roadmap to dealing with a pandemic the likes of which this country hasn’t seen since 1918, and what I can assure everyone who’s watching tonight is my biggest critic is the one who stares back at me in the mirror every single morning, and the fact is we’re trying to make the best decisions to protect as many Mississippians as possible every single day.”

MEMA Director McCraney talked about how the lessons learned during this pandemic have helped the agency prepare for future emergencies and make sure equipment is well-stocked. “That’s where we struggled in the very beginning, is we were fighting not only the other 50 states, but we were fighting the other countries for those precious supplies, and I think, having those on hand, having those out in the communities as well, is you know almost 7.5 almost 8 million community masks out in the public, that hedges our bet, that lets us get further along in recovery, further along in vaccinations and concentrate on those areas where we can actually make a difference in the hospital rates and others.”

Dr. Dobbs continues to advise Mississippians to avoid large public gatherings and continue to take precautions against the virus.