Customers and employees wear masks at the Corner Market on Northside in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, July 15, 2020.
Gov. Tate Reeves added 19 counties to the mask mandate under his executive order on Tuesday, bringing the total to 41, or half of the state’s counties.
Asked repeatedly during a press briefing about a statewide mask mandate, Reeves responded that there is no “one silver bullet,” and that it’s important to pinpoint counties with rising case numbers rather than enacting a blanket order.
“There is no one single bullet, there is no one thing that we can do as a state, there is no one thing that I as a leader or we as a state can do to make this go away,” Reeves said.
He went on to compare Mississippi’s rate of new cases compared to other states, including those with statewide mandates. As of Sunday, Mississippi ranked 35th in daily new cases per capita.
In addition to the 22 counties already under a mandate, the 19 new ones are: Alcorn, Attala, Bolivar, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lincoln, Lowndes, Neshoba, Panola, Perry, Prentiss, Stone, Tippah, Tishomingo and Union.
Reeves’ continued refusal to implement a statewide mandate comes a day after a top health official in the state called on him to do so.
Of the 41 counties under a mandate, Reeves said four no longer met the threshold used for the rule, but he kept them under the mandate because cases were still relatively high. The criteria are that a county must have, over a two-week period, over 200 new cases — as well as 200 cases per 100,00 people — or over 500 cases per 100,000 people. Meanwhile, Mississippi as a whole has met both those marks for five straight days now.
LaMiracle holds up her answer, four, during virtual class at the Boys and Girls Club Capitol Street unit in west Jackson on Sept. 21, 2020.
Despite initially capping the award amount at $1 million for a 16-week program serving a minimum of 10,000 Mississippi children, Gov. Tate Reeves gave nearly twice that in federal funds to a Utah-based organization serving only a fraction of the number of kids.
Waterford.org requested and received $1.9 million to provide a virtual, 20-minute-a-day computer program to 2,500 4-year-olds in Mississippi — more than twice the amount received by other schools, child care centers and education organizations that also received grants from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund. These are federal relief funds for education distributed to the state through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Reeves has full discretion over the spending of that money.
The organization, in its application for the funds, obtained by Mississippi Today through a public records request, acknowledged its request exceeded the guidelines.
“… our proven pandemic recovery impact, past performance, and ready network of partners justifies this request and positions us to do much more than ust (sic) meet the pandemic moment — we will build capacity for both children and their families for a lifetime!” the application stated.
A spokesperson for Waterford.org said 65% of the grant will go toward providing devices and connectivity to participants who need it. The group said it also hired an additional seven coaches to work with families, bringing the total number of coaches in the state to 13.
Waterford.org “identified the need for more than the $1 million maximum award and explained the increased costs were a result of more households being served and providing internet service and devices to each participating family,” said Bailey Martin, press secretary for Reeves’ office, which is administering the $34.6 million of GEER funds. “Upon review, our office determined these costs to be justified and to the benefit of the children and families in the state of Mississippi.”
Waterford.org, formerly the Waterford Institute, is not new to Mississippi. It launched its signature Upstart program — a 15- to 20-minute-a-day computer adaptive program for preschoolers — in Utah in 2009. The Utah Legislature funded the program, and it has since expanded to at least 15 states across the country.
Up until now, however, the group’s attempts to secure public funding in Mississippi have been unsuccessful. Lobbyists working for the company visited the Mississippi Capitol in 2011, 2012 and 2013, but several bills that would have created and funded the Mississippi Upstart project were unsuccessful after receiving pushback from some public education groups.
“‘Virtual’ education is not an appropriate or effective means of educating preschool children, and state tax dollars should not be used to further line the pockets of a wealthy family from out of state,” stated a 2012 email from The Parents’ Campaign, a group that advocates for full funding of the Mississippi public school system, to its members about the bill.
The “wealthy family” referred to in the email is the Heustons. Dustin Heuston, a former college teacher and headmaster of a K-12 school in New York City, founded Waterford in 1976 and began creating educational technology and software.
After he stepped down in 2016, Benjamin Heuston, his son, took over the company as president and CEO. Benjamin Heuston earns $331,800 a year in that role, according to the nonprofit’s 2018 tax forms.
Since 2016, Waterford.org has been active in Mississippi using private funding. They have partnered with organizations such as the Mississippi Head Start Association and Jackson Public Schools to provide the program to a total of 3,639 low-income children in areas of the state where literacy scores are low.
“We work with students prior to them entering kindergarten. We are not a program that replaces a site base or tries to get kids not to go to brick and mortar schools,” said LaTasha Hadley, vice president of state education partnerships and the point person in Mississippi for the company. “We only use our software to fill in gaps and give extra boosts to cognitive learning.”
As part of the program, students and families are provided devices and costs to cover internet services if needed. The students log on for 15 to 20 minutes a day, five days a week. Coaches help parents monitor the child’s progress and provide other guidance.
Some in early education who are familiar with the program say it works.
Nita Norphlet-Thompson, executive director of the Mississippi Head Start Association, said Upstart has “absolutely” made a positive impact on Head Start students who have participated.
“Just looking at the data of the children, the assessment scores, they’re showing marked improvement,” she said. “Then having conversations with the families, they talk about not only how they see improvement in terms of educational outcomes but how it’s helping their families sort of re-evaluate their whole perspective on early education.”
Jackson Public Schools also partners with the company to provide the program to its preschoolers. William Merritt, assistant superintendent for the district, said the program has “proven to be an asset in helping close the gap in reading and math. It’s a quality program.”
The organization also touts studies produced by its own research arm and several third-party studies as evidence of its success. One of those outside studies focused on a group of Mississippi children who participated in the program nearly two years after the start of their preschool year.
Half of the children in the study participated in Waterford’s literacy program, while the other half participated in the math program. Results showed kindergartners from the reading program scored higher on measures of literacy than the other group, and similarly, those in the math group outperformed students in the literacy group on measures of math skills.
The study warns to interpret the results with cautions due to limitations in “the lack of highly related baseline measures to control for preexisting differences in learning achievement,” and because the final sample size was limited due to lack of family participation and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Waterford.org also received an innovation grant from the U.S. Department of Education, and a study looking at early literacy outcomes of the reading program in rural, low-income areas showed some positive benefits. It found a significant difference in children’s mean scores on letter knowledge and phonological awareness, but no differences in measures of vocabulary and oral language or listening comprehension.
Critics, however, say money would be better used toward traditional pre-kindergarten, particularly in states like Mississippi where high-quality public early education options are limited. Only 27% of 3-year-olds and 33% of 4-year-olds attend publicly funded early childhood education centers, including Head Start, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research’s 2019 State of Preschool report.
“It (Waterford) is not going to change the fact that kids are still not getting quality early childhood education that they need, and that comes from having trained adults who understand child development” and learning through play, said Denisha Jones, co-founder of Defending the Early Years, a nonprofit founded in 2012 that advocates for quality early childhood education that includes active, developmentally appropriate, play-based approaches to learning. “And it doesn’t solve the fact that parents need child care so they can go to work. If there’s one thing we’ve learned (from virtual school), if the parent isn’t sitting there next to the (young) child, it doesn’t happen.”
State leaders should take a more long-term view, even during the pandemic, Jones said. She points to researchthat shows learning through play and using all five senses is more beneficial to children’s healthy development than time spent in front of a screen.
But Reeves said in a statement that the program is another way to “ensure all children in our state are afforded the ability to get the same start to academic, life and career success.”
The program is being made available to children in Mississippi regardless of income level, though the organization says 93% of participants’ families are at or below 185% of the federal poverty level — an annual income of around $48,000 for a family of four.
By the end of the 16 weeks, Waterford.org’s goal is for at least 65% of participating children to achieve a “school readiness” score on the Waterford Assessment of Core Skills which will be administered in February.
Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America
Gov. Tate Reeves and Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs speak to the media about the coronavirus during a press conference at the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, March 26, 2020.
On Aug. 4, Gov. Tate Reeves announced a statewide mask mandate — a policy 34 other states including Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana had already put in place.
At the time, COVID-19 numbers in Mississippi had shown slight improvement after a record peak in late July. To that point, Reeves had resisted pressure to implement the statewide mandate as President Donald Trump and other top Republicans leaders continued to publicly question the effectiveness of mask-wearing.
The governor’s main inspiration for issuing the statewide order, he said at the time, was to contain the virus so public schools could reopen safely in person and on time.
“Up to this point, we’ve kept the focus for masks on the counties with the highest spread,” Reeves said at a press briefing at the time. “Now, with a two-week push, I believe we can have the maximum effect and allow for the education of our kids to occur. I have taken a piecemeal approach, I’ve been criticized about it by an awful lot of people. But I’ve taken a piecemeal approach because I firmly believe that that was the best way to get the most amount of people to participate (in wearing masks).”
Reeves, despite pushback from state health officials, allowed for most schools to reopen. The statewide mask mandate, though, lasted only briefly, as Reeves let the executive order expire on Sept. 30, making him the first governor in America to end a statewide mask order. Since then, he’s relied on issuing county-by-county mask mandates for COVID-19 hotspots.
In schools, and in the state as a whole, the difference in cases during and after the statewide mandate is stark: Between the last week of the mandate and the most recent weekly case count, COVID-19 cases in schools have nearly tripled.
During the statewide mask mandate, which lasted nearly two months, the seven-day new case average shrunk by over half, falling as low as 413 on Sept. 14. Since then, the case average has increased by 200%, and 140%since the statewide mask mandate ended.
While the current surge hasn’t yet reached the peak set in late July, health officials last week warned ahead of Thanksgiving of a pattern of case spikes after holidays. Some have even called on Reeves to re-issue the statewide mask mandate. As of last week, 37 states and the District of Columbia all had such mandates.
But Reeves continues to rely on county-by-county mask orders.
“We do very much believe we should have a statewide mask mandate,” Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said Monday at a press conference. “… I think we have reasonable evidence to believe the county-by-county approach is not working.”
In August, MIT released a study comparing states with and without mask mandates, suggesting that a nationwide mask mandate could have saved 40% of worker deaths.
State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs, who recently tweeted about the contrast in cases in counties with and without mask mandates, said on Friday that the current spike is on pace to surpass the summer’s.
“We’re seeing a rate in rise in hospitalizations we haven’t seen yet at all,” Dobbs said. “We’re seeing increasing case burdens that we haven’t seen yet at all. It looks very likely that this fall surge is going to be far more severe than even our summer surge.”
Dobbs said last week that the state’s test positivity rate had climbed back to 14%, or nearly double what it was toward the end of the statewide mask mandate.
As of Monday, Reeves had placed 22 counties under mask mandates, a policy the governor said is decided by a formula unchanged throughout the pandemic: over a two-week period, a county needs to either have had more than 200 total cases or over 500 cases per 100,000 residents. Yet for the first of the two criteria, a spokesperson for his office clarified, a county would also need to have had over 200 cases per 100,000 residents in that span — a detail Reeves repeatedly excluded at press briefings.
As of Nov. 24, Mississippi as a whole has met both criteria for five straight days.
Leading up to the August mask mandate, Reeves talked at his briefings about the importance of constantly reassessing state policy.
“Throughout this pandemic we’ve tried to operate with humility, understanding that we cannot be too proud to change course,” he said on Aug. 4. “We know that with this virus, times change every single day. The data changes, the situation changes, and we’ve got to be prepared to change as well.”
On July 24, when the new case average was roughly what it is today, Reeves told his constituents: “If at any point I believe that the best approach is to go to a statewide mask mandate, I’ll do it in a heartbeat if I believe that’s the best thing for Mississippi and Mississippians.”
We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.
This page was last updated Tuesday, November 24:
New cases: 665| New Deaths: 53
Total Hospitalizations: 1,014
Total cases: 144,544| Total Deaths: 3,729
Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. On Nov. 16, Reeves added seven counties to the state’s mask-wearing mandate. The 22 counties under a mandate until Dec. 11 are: Benton, Carroll, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Harrison, Hinds, Humphreys, Itawamba, Jackson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Leflore, Lee, Madison, Marshall, Montgomery, Pontotoc, Rankin, Tate, Winston, and Yalobusha. State health officials still encourage widespread masking and credit the mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.
The seven-day new case average reached 1,143 today, a 54% increase since the start of November and the highest mark since Aug. 3.
The health department has reported over 8,000 new cases in the last week; apart from the record surge in July and August — which saw a 13-day stretch with over 8,000 new weekly cases — this is the only other time Mississippi has reached that threshold.
The number of hospitalizations have also begun to surge in the last month; using the seven-day rolling averages, total hospitalizations have increased by 32% in that time, ICU patients by 34%, and patients on ventilators by 36%.
Overall, the state’s ICUs are 84% full, with COVID-19 patients comprising 26% of all ICU beds. Sixteen of the state’s highest level COVID-care centers are at 86% capacity, and five of them — both Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Southaven and in the Golden Triangle, University of Mississippi Medical Center and St. Dominic in Jackson, and the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville — have zero ICU beds available.
According to the latest White House task force report, Mississippi’s test positivity rate is now 14%.
Within the last two weeks, Mississippi has moved from “orange” to “red” on the Global Health Institute’s risk level tracker, meaning it now averages over 25 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. Despite the rise in cases in the state, Mississippi now ranks 31st in new cases per capita, dropping from 26th a week ago.
Counties across the state saw large increases in cases over the last week. Choctaw County (15% increase), Stone County (12%), Lincoln County (12%), Attala County (12%) and Marshall County (12%) saw the biggest surges in that span.
MSDH reports that 116,683 people have recovered.
Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:
Dr. LouAnn Woodward, the vice chancellor of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, at a press conference at UMMC.
Dr. LouAnn Woodward, who leads the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the state’s only academic health center and largest hospital, directly called on Monday for Gov. Tate Reeves to re-issue a statewide mask mandate.
Reeves became the first governor in America to rescind a statewide mask mandate on Sept. 30, and COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have steadily climbed since that date. Since the statewide mandate expired, however, Reeves has issued more than a dozen county-by-county mask mandates — a piecemeal approach that has received some criticism from medical experts.
“We do very much believe we should have a statewide mask mandate,” Woodward said Monday at a press conference. “… I think we have reasonable evidence to believe the county-by-county approach is not working. It’s not doing what we need it to do. It is not turning these numbers around for us.
“With the governor being the highest level of state official, I think that sends a big signal for that position to say, ‘We are at a critical point, people. We need to have a statewide mask mandate.’ That sense of urgency is rapidly becoming much more intense and powerful. And what we have been doing hasn’t turned us around.”
Woodward was also vocal in the days leading up to the governor’s first statewide mask mandate in early August. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, who leads the state’s health department, has recently posted to social media information about the effectiveness of mask mandates.
The rise in COVID-19 cases in Mississippi — a surge only topped by the record spread in July and August — has persisted for nearly two straight months. On Saturday, the state health department reported a single-day record of 1,972 new cases. The seven-day rolling average reached 1,294 over the weekend, which is the highest mark since July 31.
The state health department also reported close to 900 total hospitalizations for people with the virus. That mark is at its highest point since Aug. 26. Health officials on Friday warned the public about managing spread in the cold months and during the holiday season.
Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America
Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis Jr., who has tested positive for COVID-19, announced Monday morning Ole Miss will take a two-week timeout from basketball activities due to the virus.
Health experts say they are worried that the start of basketball season in Mississippi will compound the state’s COVID-19 infection rates, which have reached new records this week — and several high school and college teams in the state have already seen major outbreaks.
In fact, Ole Miss announced Monday morning its men’s team will take a two-week timeout from basketball activities due to COVID-19.
Last week, both State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers and State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs expressed concerns that basketball, because it is played indoors, has the potential to significantly spread the viral disease.
“Basketball is particular concerning,” Byers said. “We have seen clusters and outbreaks in basketball settings and we’re worried about that.”
Asked about whether basketball presents inherent problems, Dobbs was adamant that playing an indoor sport in settings with limited air flow could lead to outbreaks.
Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs emphasized during a Nov. 20 press conference the need for Mississippians to follow safety protocols as positive COVID-19 numbers continue to spike.
“I’m going to say one thing,” Dobbs said. “The CDC (Center for Disease Control) had a recent announcement about a hockey outbreak. One person gave it to 22 people at a hockey game… That’s pretty appalling, right? … Basketball is a lot more intimate than ice hockey. I think, yes, basketball is going to be more dangerous.”
High school and college basketball teams across Mississippi face mounting issues as the 2020-21 basketball season begins on a hit-and-miss basis across the state.
Ole Miss announced Monday morning it is suspending men’s basketball activities until Dec. 7 because of a rash of COVID-19 infections. That means the cancellation the first four games on its schedule, including three games in the Justin Reed Classic the Rebels were supposed to host Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. A Dec. 5 home game with Memphis also has been canceled.
Ole Miss announced last week that coach Kermit Davis Jr. had tested positive for COVID-19. Davis indicated he has experienced mild symptoms.
“We were doing well and then it hit us,” Davis said in a text message on Monday morning. “(COVID-19) is going through us.”
Southern Miss has announced that its first two games — Saturday and Sunday in the MKE Classic at Milwaukee — have been canceled due to COVID-19 issues among other teams in the tournament. USM was scheduled to play North Dakota State on Saturday and Milwaukee on Sunday. As it now stands, the Golden Eagles will not open the season until Dec. 2 with a home game against cross-town rival William Carey.
“We are looking for games to add to our schedule,” USM coach Jay Ladner said in a text message. He indicated his team has experienced no serious COVID-19 issues.
Meanwhile, Mississippi State will begin its men’s season Wednesday night against Clemson in the Space Coast Challenge at Melbourne, Fla. State also will play either Liberty or Purdue on Thursday in the Florida event and is scheduled to open at home next Monday night against Texas State.
Ole Miss, State and Southern Miss all have announced plans to limit basketball attendance to 25% of arena capacity for home games.
Mississippi junior college teams have put off the start of basketball season until the third week of January, and high school teams across the state widely vary on how they are approaching basketball season.
Jackson Public Schools, which canceled the fall football season, plans to play basketball, but will not play before Dec. 19, JPS athletic director Daryl Jones said.
“It’s going to be tough, but we’re doing everything possible to play,” Jones said.
At perennial powerhouse Gulfport, the season has begun with decidedly mixed results. The Admirals already have had three games postponed or canceled. Gulfport was supposed to host its annual Thanksgiving tournament today and Tuesday, but that event has been canceled due to multiple teams with COVID-19 issues. Gulfport has managed to play four games and has a 2-2 record despite multiple problems with the virus.
“We’ve got four of our starters quarantined because of COVID,” coach Owen Miller said. “They don’t have it but they have been exposed to it. We’ve had two kids test positive and they have had only mild symptoms.”
Greenville is the only Mississippi high school known to have canceled its basketball season, according to the Mississippi High Schools Activities Association (MHSAA).
State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs urged Mississippians in a Nov. 21 press conference to follow safety protocols as positive COVID-19 numbers spike.
Health officials are urging Mississippians to limit Thanksgiving gatherings as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations near record numbers ahead of the busy holiday.
The rise in COVID-19 cases in Mississippi — a surge only topped by the record spread in July and August — has persisted for nearly two straight months. On Saturday, the state health department reported a single-day record of 1,972 new cases. The seven-day rolling average reached 1,294 over the weekend, which is the highest mark since July 31.
The state health department also reported close to 900 total hospitalizations for people with the virus. That mark is at its highest point since Aug. 26. Health officials on Friday warned the public about managing spread in the cold months and during the holiday season.
“The number of critically ill patients we have in the hospital typically runs higher this time of year,” Timothy Moore, president of the Mississippi Hospital Association, said on Friday.
Moore noted that cases have risen after each major holiday weekend so far during the pandemic, most recently during Halloween.
“When you put an increase of COVID patients on top of that, then we’ve just exacerbated the problem moving forward,” he said.
We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.
This page was last updated Monday, November 23:
New cases: 699| New Deaths: 0
Total Hospitalizations: 999
Total cases: 143,879| Total Deaths: 3,676
Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. On Nov. 16, Reeves added seven counties to the state’s mask-wearing mandate. The 22 counties under a mandate until Dec. 11 are: Benton, Carroll, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Harrison, Hinds, Humphreys, Itawamba, Jackson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Leflore, Lee, Madison, Marshall, Montgomery, Pontotoc, Rankin, Tate, Winston, and Yalobusha. State health officials still encourage widespread masking and credit the mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.
The seven-day new case average reached 1,143 today, a 54% increase since the start of November and the highest mark since Aug. 3.
The health department has reported over 8,000 new cases in the last week; apart from the record surge in July and August — which saw a 13-day stretch with over 8,000 new weekly cases — this is the only other time Mississippi has reached that threshold.
The number of hospitalizations have also begun to surge in the last month; using the seven-day rolling averages, total hospitalizations have increased by 32% in that time, ICU patients by 34%, and patients on ventilators by 36%.
Overall, the state’s ICUs are 84% full, with COVID-19 patients comprising 26% of all ICU beds. Sixteen of the state’s highest level COVID-care centers are at 86% capacity, and five of them — both Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Southaven and in the Golden Triangle, University of Mississippi Medical Center and St. Dominic in Jackson, and the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville — have zero ICU beds available.
According to the latest White House task force report, Mississippi’s test positivity rate is now 14%.
Within the last two weeks, Mississippi has moved from “orange” to “red” on the Global Health Institute’s risk level tracker, meaning it now averages over 25 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. Despite the rise in cases in the state, Mississippi now ranks 31st in new cases per capita, dropping from 26th a week ago.
Counties across the state saw large increases in cases over the last week. Choctaw County (15% increase), Stone County (12%), Lincoln County (12%), Attala County (12%) and Marshall County (12%) saw the biggest surges in that span.
MSDH reports that 116,683 people have recovered.
Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:
