Governor Reeves adds Pearl River County to mask mandate

Yesterday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced additional COVID-19 measures in an effort to slow the spread statewide. The new directives — Executive Orders No. 1535 and 1536 — will expire on Jan. 15, 2021.

Gov. Reeves also placed Pearl River County under an indoor mask mandate, joining Harrison, Jackson, and Stone counties. Hancock and George counties are the only two of the six southern counties to have COVID-19 case numbers low enough to not require face coverings in public.

Governor Tate Reeves also announced the following new guidelines for gatherings:

· For social gatherings where social distancing is not possible, crowds will be limited to a group of no more than 10 in a single space indoors.

· For outdoor social gatherings, no more than 50 people should be in close proximity.

· Indoor sports venues for K-12 extracurricular events will be limited to the lesser of a) four spectators per student participant or b) 250 ticketed spectators.

· Other indoor arenas will be limited to the lesser of ten percent seating capacity or 1,000 attendees.

Face coverings in schools are also required statewide whenever social distancing is not possible.