Gov. Tate Reeves extends COVID-19 state of emergency another 30 days
Governor Tate Reeves announced on Friday that he’s extending Mississippi’s state of emergency order for an additional 30 days.
About a month ago, Reeves extended the emergency order after several state officials publicly expressed concern that allowing it to expire — as he had previously announced he would do on Aug. 15 — would adversely affect several COVID-19 response and relief efforts.
READ MORE: Leaders fear what could happen if Reeves ends state of emergency on Sunday as planned
Leaving the emergency order in place is essential to keeping the COVID-19 System of Care Plan, which allows a coordinated effort by Mississippi health care leaders to direct patients to open hospital beds throughout the state. It also enables expanded access to telemedicine and the option for the use of the Mississippi National Guard, which were deployed earlier in the pandemic.
The emergency order also allows local school boards and State agencies to provide paid leave to staff for issues related to the pandemic.
The announcement comes as Mississippi’s COVID numbers are on a downturn after a brutal August that saw the healthcare system on the verge of collapse. Reeves said in June that he would let the emergency order expire on Aug. 15, but reversed course due to the crisis the state is facing.
Mississippi remains one of the least vaccinated states in America, though the vaccination rate has increased substantially in recent weeks due to the threat posed by the delta variant.
Reeves has said that the coronavirus has turned “into a pandemic of the unvaccinated” but continues to oppose vaccination requirements and mask mandates.
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Rep. Bennie Thompson wants all of Hinds Co. placed in his 2nd District
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Bolton, Mississippi’s longest serving member of Congress, has told state legislators that he would prefer that all of Hinds County be placed in his district.
State legislators will attempt to redraw the state’s four congressional districts early in the 2022 session to match population shifts found by the recently completed U.S. Census. Both the U.S. Constitution and state law mandate that all of a state’s congressional districts have close to the same population.
Thompson’s 2nd District, which includes much of the Mississippi Delta and a large portion of Hinds, the state’s most populous county, is the only one of the state’s four congressional districts to have lost population since 2010.
According to information compiled by Chism Strategies, a Mississippi-based polling and political consulting firm, Thompson’s district is 65,829 short of the ideal district size of 740,319 people.
Based on Census numbers:
- The 1st District, which includes much of north Mississippi, including the Memphis suburb of DeSoto County in northwest Mississippi, and the Tupelo area in northeast Mississippi, is 17,913 people more than the ideal size.
- The 3rd District, which stretches from east Mississippi to southwest Mississippi and includes much of the Jackson metro area, is 10,719 more than the ideal size.
- The Gulf Coast-based 4th District has been the fastest growing district, 37,196 more than the ideal size.
Thompson, the state’s sole African American member of Congress, recently spoke to legislators who were holding public hearings to garner input before beginning their task of redrawing the U.S. House and state legislative districts. He told them he would prefer all of Hinds County be placed in his district.
“I have part of Hinds County. If you look at Hinds County — just give me Hinds County and you are pretty close to having it,” Thompson said, referring to having the “ideal” number of residents in his district. “I live in Hinds County. I have lived all my life in Hinds County… I think communities of interest are vitally important” to stay together in redistricting.
According to Census data, 31,150 Hinds County residents are in District 3, currently represented by U.S. Rep. Michael Guest of Rankin County. If those Hinds County residents were moved to Thompson’s district, he still would be about 35,000 residents short of the “ideal size.” Legislators still would have to look to other areas of the state to add more people to Thompson’s district.
Whether legislators would opt to move north into DeSoto and Tate counties to acquire those residents, southwest into the Natchez area or east will be watched closely.
Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, a member of the Joint Legislative Redistricting Committee, said it is not clear what path legislators will opt to take to pick up those residents for District 2, but that the intent will be to ensure the district remains predominately African American.
Mississippi has a Black population of about 37%, so it would be difficult for state leaders to justify to the federal courts not having an African American majority district.
But when legislators take people from one district, it will create a domino effect that most likely will impact all of the congressional districts at least slightly because the goal is to be as close to the “ideal size” as “practicable,” according to the law.
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Mississippi Supreme Court extends COVID-19 safety order, allowing judges to delay trials until October
Rising coronavirus cases in Mississippi have caused even further delays in the state court system. Earlier this month, the Mississippi Supreme Court extended a COVID-19 emergency administrative order, allowing judges to postpone trials through Oct. 8.
When the order was originally signed in August, it gave judges the ability to postpone trials through Friday, Sept. 10, to protect against the spread of COVID-19. As the delta variant continues to spread rapidly across the state, the Mississippi Supreme Court chose to continue the emergency administrative order past September and into October.
“Because there has been no discernible reduction in the number of COVID-19 cases reported daily by the Mississippi Department of Health since Emergency Administrative Order-21 was filed, in my capacity as chief administrative officer of all courts in the state, I find that Emergency Administrative Order-21 should be extended,” Chief Justice Michael Randolph wrote in a memo announcing the order extension.
In August, Mississippi saw the highest numbers of reported COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in March 2020, and nearly 1,000 Mississippians died due to complications caused by COVID-19 in August. Between low vaccination rates and the raging delta variant, August was Mississippi’s darkest month of the coronavirus pandemic.
As a response to this, the Mississippi Supreme Court is not only allowing judges to delay trials until Oct. 8, but judges can also delay jury summonses until Oct. 11 and modify drug testing and home supervision until Oct. 8.
“From the onset of the national and state emergencies created by Coronavirus (COVID-19) in March 2020, the Court has issued a series of Emergency Administrative Orders to address the changing circumstances and the evolving guidance provided by health authorities…the Court has sought to properly balance individual rights, public health and safety, and the constitutional requirement that Mississippi state courts remain open and accessible,” Randolph wrote.
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State OKs schools’ use of incentives to encourage staff get vaccinated against COVID-19
The Mississippi Department of Education on Thursday issued a letter to school administrators giving them the go-ahead on financial payouts to teachers and staff members who get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Some school districts were waiting on guidance from the state education department to move forward with plans to use federal COVID-19 relief funds to incentivize teachers and staff to be vaccinated with up to $1,000 payments.
“MDE hopes the vaccine incentive opportunity will help get more people vaccinated so students can continue in-person learning with fewer disruptions,” a statement from Jean Cook, the spokesperson for MDE, said. “Teacher and student absences due to COVID-19 exposure and infection interrupt teaching and learning.”
The letter from Judy Nelson, executive director of the Office of Federal Programs in MDE, says districts may incentivize vaccinations if they have local board approval prior to implementing the incentives. The district must also establish a written procedure for determining the allowability of costs and “to maintain effective internal control over the Federal award.”
The guidance also says the amount must be reasonable, which it characterizes as an amount ranging from $100 to $1,000.
“LEAs (local education agencies) shall be prepared to document what is considered reasonable,” it states.
School districts in Biloxi, Kosciusko and Bay St. Louis-Waveland all planned to use these funds for an incentive program. Their goal is to have a higher percentage of teachers and staff vaccinated to help continue in-person school and decrease absences.
“It will hopefully save me on substitute teacher costs and wasting instructional time and the time of assistant teachers — not to mention the loss of instruction,” Biloxi Superintendent Marcus Boudreaux said.
Biloxi, like several other districts across the state, is facing a major shortage of available substitute teachers to cover classes for teachers who are out sick with COVID-19 or quarantined, in addition to non-pandemic related absences.
Districts are planning to use funds from the most recent federal coronavirus relief bill, the American Rescue Plan, to pay for the incentives. The U.S. Congress passed the bill in March, and it sent a total of around $1.6 billion to schools in Mississippi.
Biloxi received around $18.3 million of those funds, while Kosciusko got $7.3 million and Bay St. Louis-Waveland got around $6.6 million. The money can be used for an array of purposes, from purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean buildings to training and professional development for teachers and staff, in addition to purchasing educational technology and providing mental health supports for students.
ESSER funds may be used for vaccination outreach efforts, which “could include activities to create awareness and build confidence, facilitate clinics, and provide incentives … for staff to get vaccinated,” a U.S. Department of Education document states.
Natchez-Adams School District recently approved a plan that would offer incentives to employees who get vaccinated and require those who don’t to submit to twice-weekly testing. It is not clear what funds they are using to support that program.
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Mississippi pro-choice activists prepare for an America without Roe v. Wade
Abortion-rights activists in Mississippi are troubled by the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed a Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy to go into effect last week, but they are not surprised.
Now, they’re preparing for an upcoming Mississippi case that could put the United States in a post Roe v. Wade world.
“Mississippi, we are the testing grounds. I can’t believe Texas beat us to the punch on this one,” Derenda Hancock, co-founder of We Engage, a Jackson-based advocacy group that confronts anti-abortion protesters.
The Texas law is the most restrictive pre-viability ban — a law that prohibits access to abortion based on the amount of time pregnant before the fetus is viable, or around 24 weeks when it is able to live outside the womb — that has been allowed to star in effect post-Roe.
Mississippi’s fetal heartbeat law was blocked by an appellate court in 2019 due to it violating Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed pregnant people have a constitutional right to receive an abortion.
The Texas law is novel in that there were no defendants for abortion-rights groups to sue in attempts to block the law, as all state officials were prohibited from enforcing it. Instead, Texas deputized private citizens to enforce the ban, enabling them to sue an abortion provider who violated the law, or anyone involved in aiding or abetting someone in obtaining the procedure. Any successful case under the new law will net the plaintiff a $10,000 bounty and attorneys fees.
Though Texas groups hope to successfully challenge the law in state court, Mississippi groups are preparing for the law to be replicated here during the 2022 legislative session, where it would likely pass.
“We know that what starts in Texas doesn’t stop there, just as what starts in Mississippi impacts the nation,” the Mississippi Abortion Access Coalition said in a statement. “Texas recycled this abortion ban from others and the individual enforcement mechanism here could easily spread to other states during future legislative sessions.”
Tyler Harden, Mississippi state director of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said that they’ve been preparing for this moment since Donald Trump was elected president, promising to appoint judges that would overturn Roe.
“We’re in a space where our legislature is just so hostile. We’re fighting abortion bans every year. And I think, because of that, we were able to be intuitive about where we’re headed,” Harden said.
Mississippi’s Legislature has already passed six- and 15-week abortion bans that were struck down by appellate courts. A 20-week ban is currently enshrined in state law, as it has not been challenged in court. The case before the Supreme Court will consider Mississippi’s 15 week ban, passed in 2018.
Advocates say they’re getting ready to work in a Mississippi where women not only lack access to safe abortions, but are jailed for getting the procedure.
“We anticipate that criminalization for people seeking out abortion will be something that we have to work with local prosecutors and local government to prevent to make sure that people are able to make the choices that they need from themselves,” Harden said.
Hancock said that simply overturning Roe won’t be enough for a large swath of anti-abortion activists in Mississippi. One side of the movement wants to work within the system, and is happy with the extent of the Texas law, she said. Another believes that life starts at conception and want to see abortion banned completely and harshly prosecuted.
The Mississippi case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear in the fall — Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — centers on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, passed by state lawmakers in 2018 and immediately blocked by lower federal courts. The case will provide one of the first reproductive rights cases argued before the Supreme Court since Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in 2020. Many pundits believe that the 6-3 conservative majority will curtail access to abortion or overturn Roe entirely.
In the meantime, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s sole abortion clinic, is still providing abortions up to 16 weeks of pregnancy. Immediately after the Texas law went into effect, the clinic was inundated with calls from pregnant people in Texas, hoping to travel to the Magnolia State to seek an abortion.
“I’m sure we’ll have an influx of people from there, not that we can handle any more patients,” Hancock said. “They (JWHO) are booked, pretty much two weeks ahead.”
While time and the courts do not appear to be on their side, activists like Hancock are dedicated to doing the work they can until the clock runs out.
“We’re gonna just keep doing what we’re doing,” Hancock said. “We’re gonna keep fighting the stigma. That’s about all we’re capable of doing right now… As long as our clinic has their doors open, we’re going to be there.”
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Podcast: Tigers, Eagles, Dawgs and Rebs, oh my
The 2021 season is off and running. Rick and Tyler discuss the opening weekend of college football and highlight some of the surprise teams making moves at the high school level. Plus two great teams scheduled a surprise high school game that has everyone excited.
Stream all episodes here.
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Schools wait on state education department to OK use of federal funds for COVID-19 vaccine incentives
Several school districts in Mississippi have plans in place to use federal stimulus funds to offer up to $1,000 for teachers and staff members who get vaccinated against COVID-19, but the Mississippi Department of Education is advising them to press pause.
Although the U.S. Department of Education and the state auditor’s office agree that monies from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund can be used by schools to incentivize both students and employees to get vaccinated, the department has not yet given districts the go-ahead, MDE spokesperson Jean Cook said.
Cook declined to say what further guidance or information the department needed.
The Biloxi Public School District has rolled out a plan to pay $1,000 to staffers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 8. The plan is for the payments to go out in December, Biloxi Superintendent Marcus Boudreaux said.
“We’ve felt confident it would be approved ultimately, so we’re just operating as if it will be,” Boudreaux said when asked if the hold-up from MDE has made implementing the plan more difficult.
Boudreaux said he also sees vaccination as a cost-saving measure.
Current health guidelines dictate unvaccinated individuals must quarantine after coming in close contact with a person who has COVID. Vaccinated individuals, however, do not have to quarantine after being potentially exposed.
The district has held six drives since the vaccines were first available to the public, and at those drives, over 500 of Biloxi’s 850 employees have been vaccinated.
“It will hopefully save me on substitute teacher costs and wasting instructional time and the time of assistant teachers — not to mention the loss of instruction,” he said.
Biloxi, like several other districts across the state, is facing a major shortage of available substitute teachers to cover classes for teachers who are out sick with COVID-19 or quarantined, in addition to non-pandemic related absences.
“We’re using certified staff a lot on their planning time to cover other teachers’ classes. I’ve got principals and assistant principals sitting in classrooms,” said Boudreaux. “We’re having to cover for each other. We’re hoping with the incentive the more people that get vaccinated, the better off we’re going to be for fighting the virus.”
A Starkville teacher told Mississippi Today that due to a shortage of substitute teachers last week, entire classes were sitting in the bleachers in the gymnasium because no one was there to teach.
In the Yazoo County School District, the board increased the pay for substitute teachers in an attempt to better attract and retain them. For teachers without a degree, the pay increased from $55 per day to $90 per day. For those with degrees, the pay went from $70 a day to $150 a day.
The Kosciusko School District is planning a similar program, according to its director of federal programs Corrie Ramage. Employees have until Oct. 15 to be fully vaccinated in order to receive a payment of anywhere from $750 to $1,000, said Ramage.
Ramage said the district is doing everything it can not to repeat what happened last year when several staff members died from the virus. There was also a student from the district in the intensive care unit with COVID-19, and the town has lost several community members over the past three months.
“We’re hoping this will keep us in school longer,” she said. “We’re trying to be proactive.”
The Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District is also considering such a program, but Superintendent Sandra Reed said the district is still waiting for guidance from the state.
Districts are planning to use funds from the most recent federal coronavirus relief bill, the American Rescue Plan, to pay for the incentives. The U.S. Congress passed the bill in March, and it sent a total of around $1.6 billion to schools in Mississippi.
Biloxi received around $18.3 million of those funds, while Kosciusko got $7.3 million and Bay St. Louis-Waveland got around $6.6 million. The money can be used for an array of purposes, from purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean buildings to training and professional development for teachers and staff, in addition to purchasing educational technology and providing mental health supports for students.
ESSER funds may be used for vaccination outreach efforts, which “could include activities to create awareness and build confidence, facilitate clinics, and provide incentives … for staff to get vaccinated,” a U.S. Department of Education document states.
Officials from the state auditor’s office and state education department met last week to discuss the issue, according to Logan Reeves, spokesperson for the state auditor’s office.
“The office has been in communication with MDE,” said Reeves. “Our position is that these programs generally are legal. However, it is contingent upon individual school districts to make sure any incentive programs they enact do follow and stay within the bounds of the law.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the state education department had still not given districts the go-ahead to move forward.
“When we receive guidance from USED, it is not uncommon for us to conduct research to determine if there are any additional factors to consider under state law,” said Cook, the spokesperson for the state education department. “We have not issued guidance (to school districts) yet.”
As they remain in limbo, 2,869 students and 476 teachers and staff tested positive for COVID-19 during the week of Aug. 30, according to data from the Mississippi Department of Health. Around 15,000 students and 570 teachers and staff were quarantined during the same time period. The data is not a complete picture of actual infections and quarantines in schools as all school districts do not report.
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