Governor Reeves extends ‘Safer at Home’ order until August 3rd

Governor Tate Reeves extends the previous ‘Safer at Home’ order until Monday, August 3rd, adding 10 counties to the list of mandatory mask mandates.

- new this afternoon, gov.

Tate - reeves extends the- previous safer at home order- until monday, august 3rd, - adding ten counties to the list- of mandatory mask - mandates.

- the 10 counties added to the- list of mask mandates are - bolivar, covington, forrest,- humphreys,- panola, sharkey, simpson, - tallahatchie, tate, and - walthall.

- governor tate reeves says he- spoke with the white house- coronavirus task force and was- told on june 27th, the state of- mississippi had 490 confirmed - covid-19 cases in hospital beds- across mississippi.

- as of yesterday, reeves said, - that number has risen from 490- to 909 in - just three weeks.

- state health officer, dr. thoma- dobbs, says now there - are 943 confirmed coronavirus - cases that are- hospitalized and 293 coronaviru- patients in intensive care in - mississippi.- - "that puts us looking at about- 40% of all of - the icu cases have coronavirus.- that's a phenomenal number and- it continues to - grow.

Just friday it was only - 31%.

So, we're growing so - - - - quickly, it really tells us tha- we're at the verge of really- pushing our system over its - capacity.

In large, - we're already there.

If we look- at the number of hospitals that- - - - have zero icu beds, currently - that stands at 9 but, if we loo- at the number of icu beds - available for the - four largest medical centers in- the jackson metro area, there i- - - - one icu bed currently available- so, again, very, very tight.

We- have 16 hospitals that have les- than 10% of - - - - icu capacity, again, that's - really kind of a pain point for- us as far as icu capacity is- concerned."

- however when asked about a- statewide mask mandate, - governor reeves is still- dismissing the need for the - mandate to protect people from- coronavirus.- - "if i believed that was the bes- way to save - lives in my state, i would have- done it a long time ago.

But- yes, i do believe that- wearing masks and maintaining - social distancing is a strategy- worth - implementing" - governor reeves releasing this- statement on twitter- saying quote, "covid-19 is- spreading and killing in our- state.

It is not a hypothetical- it is happening.

Today, i've- extended our executive orders t- mitigate the- threatadding 10 counties to the- list of those with stricter - measures in place."

- masks are required in public- gatherings and- at retail environments.

- the 10 additonal counties join- claiborne, desoto, grenada, - harrison, hinds, jackson, - jefferson, madison, quitman,- rankin, sunflower, washington,- and wayne.-