Adams County board adopts new mask requirement without enforcement

August 16, 2021

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors today adopted a COVID mask requirement for indoor venues where people can’t socially distance. However, their attorney noted there will be no penalties or enforcement measures for people caught maskless.

The Board of Supervisors had declined to reimpose a mask mandate since one expired in May, but such a step is needed for the county to receive free masks from the state to distribute to the public, said Adams County Emergency Management Director Brad Bradford.

There was no dissenting vote today for the new mask requirement, but Adams County Supervisor Wes Middleton expressed concerns about businesses having to “police” customers. Wearing masks should be their option, he said.

Supervisor Ricky Gray – the five-member board’s most vocal proponent of wearing masks – acknowledged people don’t want such mandates. However, “at the end of the day, it’s about saving lives,” Gray said.

While it was a misdemeanor to violate the previous mask mandate in effect July 2020 till this past May, the new countywide masking measure adopted today carries no criminal penalties, said Adams County board attorney Scott Slover.

This comes as the COVID-19 virus continues its 18-month worldwide contagion. Like many communities, Adams County has experienced a resurgence of cases and deaths in recent weeks after a previous lull.

Nearly 200 Adams County residents recently tested to show they’re infected with the coronavirus this past week, according to the state Department of Health’s most recent COVID data, and three Adams County victims died this past week.

The number of new cases since Aug. 7 indicates the largest weekly increase for Adams County this year. It had been as low as 18 new cases for the week ending June 26. The three deaths since Aug. 7 is the largest within a week in Adams County since February, according to the Health Department data.

Bradford provided county supervisors a different COVID count: 10 Adams County deaths in August. Of those, nine victims had not been vaccinated.

“That tells me the vaccine is working,” said Adams County board President Angela Hutchins.

With only 33 percent of Adams County’s population fully vaccinated, she and other supervisors are urging people to get the COVID shots. “Please get vaccinated,” said Supervisor Kevin Wilson.

For all of Mississippi’s population, about 36 percent has been vaccinated, according to the Department of Health. For all 50 states, the vaccination rate is 50 percent.

As of today, 3,790 Adams County residents have tested positive to have COVID and 93 have died since March 2020, according to the state Department of Health. The county has about 30,000 residents.

The recent spike is attributed to the delta variant – the more virulent strain of the coronavirus that’s more contagious.

Federal and state health officials last month began to urge everybody – even those with COVID vaccinations – to return to wearing masks inside public places where people gather. The mask-wearing directive had been eased in May, when the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people fully vaccinated didn’t need to wear them in most public venues.