NATCHEZ, Miss – The Adams County Board of Supervisors today voted to lift the mask mandate next week for Natchez-Adams County residents as the number of COVID cases declines and more people get vaccinated.
The local requirement for people to wear face coverings in public places was imposed by the county board in July, when the highly contagious respiratory disease surged and Merit Health Natchez hospital was overwhelmed with COVID patients.
In lifting the mask mandate effective May 1, Adams County supervisors also voted to order a limit of 500 people who can congregate at outside public venues. Indoor public gatherings would be limited to 50 percent of a building’s capacity.
The number of people recently diagnosed with COVID-19 locally has declined precipitously since January. The latest weekly count in Adams County of new COVID cases was 16 for the week ending April 10, according to the state Department of Health. That’s a decline from a peak of 122 reported for the week ending Jan. 9.
This come as more than 7,000 Adams County residents have been fully vaccinated to be protected from the coronavirus.
Adams County supervisors this morning voted 4-1 to lift the mask mandate, which has been met by some resistance from people not wanting such an intrusive government order. However, supervisors continue to encourage Natchez-Adams County residents to wear face coverings in public where people are gathered close together.
“People who will not wear their masks will not — no matter what (the board requires), but … I still strongly recommend you wear your masks,” said county Supervisor Warren Gaines.
Expressing concerns that COVID will surge again without the public-health restrictions, county Supervisor Ricky Gray was the lone dissenter in the board’s vote to rescind the local mask order, which follows what Gov. Tate Reeves did statewide in early March.
Adams County voters “elected us to protect them,” Gray said.
“I now pray that everybody will take care of themselves when it comes to wearing masks.”
While at least 7,100 Adams County residents have been fully vaccinated — mostly in the long-lined, drive-through inoculations being given for free at Liberty Park – that’s only 23 percent of the county’s total population, according to the Mississippi Department of Health. That’s close to the statewide level of 21 percent of the population fully inoculated.
As of Sunday, 82 Adams County residents have died from COVID since the Department of Health began reporting such statistics in March 2020. However, no death has been reported since March 30, and no COVID patient is currently in the Natchez hospital as the number of people infected has declined since the previous spikes.
“Obviously, we’ve come a long way,” said Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson, who urged more people to get vaccinated “so we can continue to enjoy our low numbers.”
The mayor and the Board of Aldermen have been abiding by what Adams County officials have been doing to impose COVID requirements for wearing masks and limiting crowd numbers for the county and city.
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