Lowndes County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Wednesday morning to table the decision to mandate mask-wearing countywide until its Aug. 3 meeting, citing the need for more information on the severity of the spread of COVID-19 in the county and concerns about enforcement.
The majority of supervisors said they encourage citizens to wear masks. However, many said they were uncertain whether the situation in Lowndes warrants a countywide mandate.
The board’s discussion of mask requirements came after Starkville, Columbus and West Point all adopted policies last week to mandate mask-wearing in publicly-owned facilities and retail stores for those of the age 6 and above. Supervisors of Oktibbeha County also adopted similar policies earlier that week.
Gov. Tate Reeves also issued an executive order Friday requiring mask-wearing in “shopping environments” and social gatherings in 13 counties. The counties saw more than 200 cases over the past two weeks or an average of 500 or more cases per 100,000 residents during the same time span, Reeves said during a Tuesday conference. None of the counties in the Golden Triangle was on his list.
District 2 Supervisor Trip Hairston said the county needs to use the state criteria to assess its own situation.
“We have a state epidemiologist who’s making those decisions, and I think any other decision would (be) overreaching,” he told the board. “I looked at the raw data, and I don’t really see where we are really high up there … where they would consider putting us under the ordinances from a state mandate.”
He has requested data from the Mississippi Department of Health (MSDH) on the number of new cases over the past two weeks, but has not received any, he said.
The county has seen an increase of 116 cases over the past two weeks, according to MSDH’s archived data on its website. The county had seen 453 cases as of June 30, and the numbers jumped to 569 as of Tuesday.
Lowndes County has almost 59,000 residents, according to MSDH’s data analysis. The 116 new cases over the past two weeks means a rate of roughly 197 cases per 100,000 residents during the time period, which is below Reeves’ threshold to implement a countywide mask requirement.
When asked why the county wouldn’t adopt a mandate before the numbers reach that threshold, Hairston told The Dispatch implementing a mask requirement too early would instill a sense of “fatigue” in people as the mandate stretches on and draw more pushback.
“For the first couple of weeks, they may be pretty diligent about washing their hands and wearing masks and doing all the stuff, and then they get lackadaisical, so to speak, and then they don’t take it seriously,” he said. “So if you mandate it too early, I think that you may have more and more pushback and more and more people who don’t take it seriously and get lackadaisical about doing what they need to do.”
District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks told The Dispatch on Wednesday he preferred to wait for an assessment of the situation from Emergency Services Director Cindy Lawrence.
“We want to talk to her and see what the pattern has been over the days,” Brooks said. “By Aug. 3, we’ll be able to look at what’s happening moving forward.”
Apart from the need for more information, Sheriff Eddie Hawkins said with the manpower he has, fully enforcing a mask requirement would be challenging.
“We’ve got five deputies working the roads right now. We are answering calls back to back and we’re strung out pretty thin,” he said. “To patrol convenient stores, Dollar Generals in the county, looking for people that are violating the ordinance is going to be a logistics nightmare.”
But for District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith, the county needs to adjust its ordinance to be consistent with the city ordinance. Last week, Columbus passed a resolution mandating mask-wearing for residents of the age 6 and above in all retail stores, restaurants, gyms and fitness centers as well as city-owned facilities, unless they are eating, drinking or exercising.
“We have, up till now, supported adopting everything that the city has implemented to be consistent with the city,” Smith told The Dispatch. “Being consistent makes it easy for those that are willing to conform to that to do just that.”
District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders said he favors a mask requirement.
“I don’t see any harm wearing a mask,” Sanders said. “I don’t see why somebody would reject wearing masks. It’s not to protect the person who has the mask, it’s to protect the person he comes in contact with.”
District 3 Supervisor John Holliman offered no opinion on masks during the meeting and could not be reached for comment afterward.
Calls mounting for Sanders’ resignation
A month after Sanders made racist comments claiming the Black community remains “dependent” since the end of slavery and has failed to “assimilate” into the society, protests against Sanders’ refusal to resign entirely from the board continued.
Outside the county courthouse, where the board meeting took place Wednesday morning, Jermaine Shanklin and roughly 30 protesters chanted “Harry Must Go,” which made the conversations in the room hard to hear. Board Attorney Tim Hudson, as well as Columbus Mayor Robert Smith, who attended the meeting, frequently peeked through the blinds at the protest.
Inside the boardroom, multiple citizens called for Sanders to step down entirely for the good of the community.
Rebecca Bailey, a Republican voter in District 1 and retired teacher, brought a mask she made to protest against Sanders. The white cloth mask has “FIRE HARRY” written on it with black and red sharpies, with fire drawn on the side.
“I represent a lot of people that are dissatisfied with you, Mr. Sanders,” Bailey said during the meeting. “It greatly concerns me that Lowndes County and Columbus area have made great economic progress under your leadership, and with your mouth, Mr. Sanders, you, personally, have brought racism to a divided community already.”
Bailey said Sanders showed no respect for community members who asked him to resign over the past month by refusing to step down.
“Your community leaders have asked for your resignation. The business community has asked, the surrounding Golden Triangle has asked. Most of your board of supervisors … asked for you to resign,” she said. “It’s really ultimately up to you to do the right thing.”
Heather Ford, kindergarten teacher at Annunciation Catholic School in East Columbus and member of newly-formed group Educators for Equality, told Sanders his comments were harmful to the growth of children in the county. The group, formed in early June, represents 60 to 70 educators across the county, she told The Dispatch.
“We are asking you to resign from the board so that every child in Lowndes County has representatives that believe in them and want the best for them,” Ford told Sanders. “Now all they see is that a man in power thinks the color of their skin makes them inferior, based on something they have absolutely nothing to do with.”
Sanders declined to comment on the calls for his resignation.
The standoff between Brooks, Jeff Smith and the rest of the board continued during Wednesday’s meeting, as Brooks abstained from most issues on the agenda and opposed multiple items. Smith abstained from many items as well.
“I will continue to, in my own way, make the board and the county aware of my dissatisfaction,” Smith told The Dispatch. “Normal actions of the board of supervisors is just not going to be normal anymore.”
Yue Stella Yu was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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