Starting Tuesday, Columbus City Council meetings will be closed to public attendance until further notice due to the risk of large gatherings amid the outbreak of COVID-19, a disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Mayor Robert Smith announced at a press conference at the City Hall Monday afternoon.
Council meetings, with the presence of all council members and the mayor, will be streamed online on different platforms, including Facebook and Youtube, Smith said. Scheduled citizen comments will be delayed, he said, and city department directors will join the meeting by phone if needed.
Media members also will be allowed to attend meetings in person, Smith said.
The next regular council meeting is set to meet at 5 p.m. today.
As of Tuesday 21 cases have been confirmed, with one in Monroe County, according to the Mississippi Department of Health (MSDH). That’s an increase of nine cases since MSDH’s Monday morning report.
Other confirmed cases are spread out across the state in Hinds (6), LeFlore (4), Forrest(3), Copiah (2), Pearl River (2), Hancock (1), Harrison (1) and Jackson (1) counties.
The city decision followed recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Gov. Tate Reeves given the current situation, Smith said.
Reeves, who declared a State of Emergency over the pandemic on Saturday, recommended cancellation or delay of gathering of 50 or more people to align with the CDC’s prevention guidelines. President Donald Trump suggested Monday afternoon to further narrow the limit to 10 people, according to reports from multiple media outlets.
The city’s decision also came after a joint conference between Lowndes County and city officials, area school district leaders and representatives from the Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle on Monday afternoon, where they heard the latest coronavirus updates from the MSDH and discussed policies to slow down the spread.
‘The capacity is not there’
A spike in the number of sick patients would add to the burden of the hospital, said Chris Bourland, ambulance service director at the BMH, at the Monday meeting. The facility now has 250 hospital beds and 16 ICU beds, he said.
But the capacity may soon run out given a major outbreak, said Robert Curry, central regional health officer at MSDH.
“(Those) 250 beds and that 16 ICU beds can be filled up,” Curry said, snapping his finger, “just like that. It shut Italy down. Not that they wanted to, but they filled their hospital beds and all their ICU beds overnight.
“We don’t have enough,” Curry added. “The capacity is simply not there. Not just here; it’s everywhere. If you don’t manage to keep this stuff that is spreading like wildfire … you are going to end up inundating your medical (society).”
The possibility of health care professionals or first responders getting sick worried many at the meeting as well.
County Emergency Services Director Cindy Lawrence said first responders are at risk of being exposed to infected patients without knowing it.
“I would probably limit our first responders on those types of calls,” Bourland said.
He suggested developing a protocol for first responders to be logged into a system for follow-up checks to make sure of their health.
Flatten the curve
At this point, the spread of the virus is not preventable but delayable, Curry said.
“Six months (from now), we are still going to be going,” Curry said. “I’d rather (for the number of cases to) go up slow, hang in there and let us take care of those sick folks. … It sure beats that huge spike.”
A vital community-based measure to “flatten the curve,” Curry said, is to practice social distancing, such as working from home, dismissing schools or cancelling large gatherings. Keeping a distance of at least six feet with others can be helpful in preventing infection, he said.
At Monday’s press conference, Smith recommended that Columbus citizens order takeout from local restaurants and move in-person gatherings online.
At the joint conference, Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Taylor Stewart and Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin both suggested limiting the opening hours of bars and restaurants in town.
“If there’s been a State of Emergency declared for the state of Mississippi,” Stewart said, “I think the bars need to be closed. I think the restaurants need to be takeout only.”
The MSDH encourages citizens to follow the CDC guidelines to help slow the spread of the virus, Curry said. Some of the basic measures include washing hands for 20 seconds, avoiding touching one’s eyes, nose and mouth and covering coughs and sneezes with one’s elbows.
“People who are at higher risk of getting very sick really need to take this to the heart,” Curry said. “That wave across the room is probably as good a love sign.”
‘We don’t want to cause panic’
The state’s Public Health Laboratory is now offering free testing through its health care providers, Curry said. Residents with suspicious symptoms can reach out to their doctors, who will first rule out possibilities for flu or bacteria infections, he said. If a test is taken, it will take roughly 48 hours for the sample to be delivered to the laboratory in Jackson, he said.
Curry recommended that patients who are tested positive with mild symptoms stay home unless they become sicker. To not burden the healthcare system, Curry suggested that patients with symptoms go to their physicians instead of going directly to the Emergency Room.
“The ER is not the place to triage stuff,” Curry said.
District 2 Lowndes Supervisor Trip Hairston agreed.
“You just don’t want everybody to inundate the health care system,” Hairston said.
As severe as the situation is, Curry said it’s important to keep the public informed and calm.
“We don’t want to cause a panic,” Curry said, “but we want people to realize that this is real. It’s not made up.”
District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said the best practice is to spread information, encourage people to follow the CDC guidelines and let everyone make their own decisions.
“We don’t want to overreact and hamper businesses,” Brooks said. “Just let everything flow.”
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Yue Stella Yu was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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