Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is bracing for COVID-19 virus diagnoses to swell in Mississippi as coronavirus testing becomes more readily available and spillover from New Orleans, a budding Southern hot spot for the pandemic, reaches his state.
To mitigate the spread, Reeves issued an executive order banning gatherings of 10 or more and closing most businesses not deemed essential. At the earliest, the governor does not anticipate transitioning Mississippi’s economy to return to normal until one week after Easter, the date President Trump is targeting for partial reopening nationally.
Last week, there was some confusion after Reeves appeared to override local officials in Mississippi who were moving aggressively to blunt the coronavirus outbreak with shelter-in-place orders and mandatory business closures. But in a telephone interview Saturday evening with Behind Closed Doors, a Washington Examiner podcast, the first-term Republican explained his administration’s policy,
Contrary to some earlier reporting, Reeves said, the stringent rules in place in states with significant urban populations, such as California, Illinois, Maryland, and New York, is similar to what life is like in Mississippi right now for “95%” of the state’s nearly 3 million people. “We’re certainly doing everything we can to prepare for the worst and pray for the best and expect, probably, somewhere in between,” he said.
The following interview with the governor was edited for length and clarity:
Washington Examiner: Let’s start with what conditions are in Mississippi.
Reeves: We are certainly seeing increases in cases every single day. We have approximately 650 cases as of the most recent data; we have 13 deaths in Mississippi now. And, so we are seeing, again daily growth, but not exponential growth. We’re monitoring it very closely. We’re looking at it on a region-by-region basis as well as a county-by-county basis. We’re going to continue to do that and be prepared to respond.
Washington Examiner: Have you determined how bad things might get in Mississippi?
Reeves: We think that we’re going to continue to see significant increases in cases on a daily basis throughout the next week. We certainly don’t know enough to know if that’s going to continue beyond that or not. One of the things that I will tell you is, particularly, when you look at smaller states — when you look at smaller states and the number of cases they have — because I monitor that very closely every day — I believe that the number of cases that are being reported today are largely a function of how many tests are being run. … We announced on Thursday that we are going to try to move more to the model that Singapore, for instance, used. We’re going to try to focus on areas that we can catch very early, that may become hot spots and do a significant amount of testing in those areas, in those regions, and then immediately take those who have tested positive, do a lot of case management, figure out who they have been around and who they may have exposed and try to get shelter-in-place orders, potentially, at least for those who have been exposed, but perhaps even for smaller areas in the states. Again, testing is critical.
Washington Examiner: Does Mississippi have enough materials to conduct robust testing?
Reeves: We are working hard, every day, to continue to gather more tests and more testing materials. We have been working very closely with the University of Mississippi Medical Center, which has developed an ability to not only test but also to read those tests and actually provide results that have been approved by our state department of health. That’s going to help us in enhancing our testing capabilities significantly. In addition to that, we have other research universities that are also working daily to put together their own testing kits and capabilities. We are confident that those are going to come online sooner rather than later.
Washington Examiner: Do you have the medical infrastructure you need? Ventilators? Hospital beds?
Reeves: Mississippi has a significant number of available beds. Mississippi has a significant number of available ventilators. We have talked with everyone in our hospital system; we have encouraged them to plan to be able — and we have been told by most of the large health systems that they have the ability to increase capacity for intensive care units anywhere from 50% to 100%, depending on which specific hospital system we’re talking about. We have a large number of rural hospitals where that’s not necessarily the case.
But in our Gulf Coast region, in our Hattiesburg region, in our Jackson region, and then in our North Mississippi region, most of them have the ability to increase capacity anywhere from 50% to 100%. One of the limiting factors for us is, at least initially, is not going to be bed capacity, but personnel. Obviously, every additional ventilator or respirator machine that you bring online, you’ve got to have a respiratory therapist or some other personnel to operate it. We are thinking through exactly what that looks like and are working very hard to set plans in motion.
Washington Examiner: Discuss how the unfolding situation in New Orleans could impact Mississippi.
Reeves: When you think about our population from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, south, we have a very transient population. Many of our residents travel to New Orleans to work. Many of our residents travel to New Orleans to play. And, while the latter is not happening right now, it certainly happened two weeks ago, and so we’ve got to prepare for a challenging environment if the situation in Orleans Parish, etc., continues to worsen and that bleeds over into south Mississippi.
Washington Examiner: How are you handling shelter-in-place orders and the closure of certain businesses deemed nonessential?
Reeves: There have been some national reports that have just been totally and completely based off of, perhaps, local reports that are inaccurate. And the local reporters know they’re inaccurate but yet they’re reporting it anyway. So here’s what the actual rules are in our state: We issued an executive order which had two different parts to it. The first part said you cannot gather in groups of 10 or more for social gatherings. No. 2: you cannot have a restaurant or bar that is open in Mississippi for dine-in unless you can comply with having less than 10 people and proper social distancing. In addition, a week or so ago, we issued an executive order which says we would allow no visitation at hospitals, at nursing homes, and other primary healthcare facilities. So we set a minimum floor for what you could or could not do on a statewide basis.
Washington Examiner: For context, here in Washington, D.C., as in other urban centers, most businesses are closed, other than grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, hardware stores, etc., and related goods and services. Obviously, restaurants are takeout and delivery only. Is that what it’s like in Mississippi right now?
Reeves: What you just described about where you live is basically 95% of Mississippi as well. I do Orangetheory Fitness, for instance. [It’s] been closed for two and a half weeks. I have a restaurant across the street from the governor’s mansion that is very popular that literally is doing dine-out only, and I watched people walk by and pick up their dine-out as they walked back to their office or where they live in downtown Jackson. Literally, what you describe is 95% of what Mississippi looks like right now.
Washington Examiner: Discuss the economic impact of the pandemic on your state and talk about striking the balance between public health and Mississippians’ livelihoods.
Reeves: I think it’s a great question. I do want to just say one thing before we leave the shelter-in-place question. I am perfectly prepared to issue a shelter-in-place order in any region or any county of our state if and when the public health experts in Mississippi suggest that I do something. We are having conversations about that at this time, but we are much more likely to do it in a smaller region of our state where it makes sense than to go out and issue a shelter-in-place just because that’s what some in the national media want me to do — or even some of my own constituents want me to do.
There is no question that the potential economic impact of this a global pandemic must be a consideration, not necessarily the consideration but a consideration when making shelter-in-place decisions and making other decisions. … Certainly, we don’t want to end this particular pandemic in a month or three months or six months from now having created a country which has 25%, 30% unemployment, which then leads to abject poverty for one-fifth to one-half of our population.
Washington Examiner: Is Easter a possibility to begin transitioning back to normal?
Reeves: I don’t — I think in Mississippi that we will find a significant number of large churches that are reopening with Easter Sunday services, although I wouldn’t rule anything out at this time.
Washington Examiner: What is your assessment of Trump’s handling of the pandemic?
Reeves: I commend President Trump. He’s been transparent. He’s been on TV. He’s met with the governors almost daily and provided counsel, and I appreciate President Trump’s leadership through this. This is not something anyone’s ever had to deal with — or at least not anyone that’s currently alive, and I think he’s done an excellent job.
