DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. — It has been less than two weeks since Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves lifted his state-wide mask mandate, and some health officials are already seeing concerning trends.
At this time, Mississippi will not go back to a statewide mandate but health officials are concerned that people across the state are not wearing masks, especially in Northwest Mississippi.
“People haven’t been wearing masks like they used to, even a week or two ago,” Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Mississippi State Health Officer, said. “It’s been very discouraging to see. I’d really been more hopeful that people would’ve understood and embraced it.”
The health department said larger counties like DeSoto and Lafayette have seen the most issues, with a higher number of hospitalizations, an increasing number of infections and greater positivity rates.
“There are several converging trends that are worrisome, and then having the larger population, there’s more stuff going on. More activities and restaurants, that sort of thing. There is a propensity for increased transmission,” Dobbs said.
The state health department claims less than two weeks is not a large enough sample size to see how the easing of restrictions is affecting Mississippi’s battle against COVID, but Reeves has been open to bringing back mandates if health concerns keep rising.
“It doesn’t mean that next week we’re not going to sit down and come to you and say hey, we looked at these three counties and the numbers are going in the wrong direction and therefore we’re going to have to put a mask mandate back on,” Governor Tate Reeves said.
Health officials said with fall settling in and winter coming soon, there could be a second wave of coronavirus. The Mississippi State Health Department is not sounding the alarm just yet, but officials are still urging residents especially those in larger counties to continue to wear masks and stay socially distant.
