Thursday morning, March 26 Laurel Mayor Johnny Magee issued Executive Order No. MA-6 regarding a State of Emergency in the City of Laurel relating to the Global Pandemic of COVID-19.
“We are officially under an emergency as of today,” stated Magee at a press conference Thursday morning, held in the Freight Room of the Laurel Train Depot.
The mayor’s order follows Executive Order No. 1463, issued by Governor Tate Reeves on Tuesday, March 24.
The order includes guidelines for restaurants and essential businesses or operations in the City of Laurel effective beginning Thursday, March 26, and continuing until April 17. “Essential business or operation” is described in Executive Order 1463 by the governor, which can be found at https://www.coronavirus.ms.gov/sites/coronavirus/files/Executive_Order_1463__-_essential_businesses.pdf
Many restaurants and businesses in the city are already adhering to the guidelines, which include the suspension of dine-in services “unless able to reduce the capacity to allow no more than ten people seated or in close proximity to each other.”
The order also encourages all to follow the CDC and the Mississippi Department of Health recommendations for social distancing, which refers to refraining from gathering in groups of ten or more such as at funerals, weddings, and church services. People should also stay home, if at all possible, and only get out for essential needs. Visiting hospitals, nursing homes, or long-term care facilities are also discouraged.
In response to the State of Emergency being issued now and the governor’s statement on Tuesday when he said, “Understand we are not at the end of this pandemic. In fact, we may still be at the beginning stages of this fight,” Jones County Emergency Management Authority Director Paul Sheffield, who was also at the press conference responded, “The information that we are receiving from the state Department of Health is that the numbers are still going up. Until we see a stop in the rise, a steady, and then a decline in the numbers being reported and confirmed daily, it’s not over. The date set in this executive order of April 17 is a very fluid date, as the mayor said, it’s constantly moving.”