Starkville aldermen voted unanimously Friday mandating restaurants serve customers via takeout, drive-through and delivery only, and restricting social and business gatherings to 10 people or fewer in an effort to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
“I don’t think any of us here takes this lightly because we know that when we do this, we’re impacting individuals’ wages, their jobs, their well-being,” Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk said. “We recognize the potential damage that’s going to come to the business community by doing this, and this is as somber a vote as I believe this board has taken.”
The resolution is effective immediately and will stay in place for 30 days unless the city or state extends it. Violators would serve a maximum of 90 days in jail and pay a maximum fine of $1,000, and Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard said enforcement would happen after a few warnings.
Starkville’s resolution states that the city considers COVID-19 to be a natural disaster and reserves the right to order a curfew, as allowed by state law, if deemed necessary to keep people safe. Mayor Lynn Spruill does not have the authority to order a curfew herself, so the board of aldermen would have to meet again to pass it.
The board declared a local state of emergency at its Tuesday meeting.
As of Friday, there are no confirmed cases of the virus in Starkville or Oktibbeha County. Mississippi has more than 80 confirmed cases, and on Thursday, a Hancock County resident was the first in the state to die of the virus.
The 10-person gathering mandate comes from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation. Several states have issued stay-at-home orders, and Gov. Tate Reeves ordered all schools in Mississippi to stay closed until April 17.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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