Aldermen voted 5-2 on Tuesday that customers at Starkville restaurants do not have to wear protective face masks as the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic continues, in light of Gov. Tate Reeves’ announcement Monday that restaurants can reopen with restrictions on Thursday.
Starkville’s parks, however, will not reopen Thursday even though Reeves’ order allows cities the option. Aldermen Ben Carver of Ward 1 and David Little of Ward 3 spoke in favor of opening the parks and voted against Mayor Lynn Spruill’s proposed resolution because it did not include such a provision.
Spruill told The Dispatch the parks will likely reopen near the end of next week but will not operate at full capacity due to both financial and social distancing restrictions, so attendance will be “at your own risk.”
The Parks and Recreation department is seeing several cost cuts, including less maintenance work and closing the Moncrief Park pool for the summer, as part of the city’s effort to mitigate the expected sales tax revenue shortfall due to the pandemic. Several parks employees have been furloughed until further notice, and Interim Executive Director David D’Aquilla said the remaining staff are working 32 hours per week.
“We would have to keep the restrooms closed because we would not have the staffing to keep those (sanitized), and we would run into the same issues with trash collection,” he said.
Police will be monitoring the parks to make sure people are adhering to social distancing and no more than 20 people are at one park at the same time, in accordance with Reeves’ order.
“To be perfectly frank, I don’t know how people are actually going to do sports of any kind,” Spruill told The Dispatch.
Carver proposed a resolution that would have reopened the parks and eliminated the face mask mandate on Thursday, but the rest of the board supported Spruill’s proposal instead, with the exception of Little. Spruill said she believes masks are still necessary at essential businesses like grocery stores, where staying six feet apart might not be possible at all times.
Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker said he agreed with Carver that the city needs to try to reopen the parks soon but understood the financial and health concerns surrounding the discussion, and he said “it seems impossible to do this in a prudent way by Thursday.”
OCH ICU director: At-risk populations should still stay home
Starting at 9 a.m. Thursday, indoor dining rooms and outdoor seating areas at restaurants will each be required to have no more than six customers per table and allow up to 50-percent total capacity. Servers must wear masks, and customers entering restaurants will be asked if they have shown any signs of the virus or have been exposed to anyone who has it
Starkville’s restaurants have been restricted to drive-thru, carry-out and delivery since March 20.
Reeves’ “shelter in place” order lasted from April 3 to April 27, and the subsequent “safer at home” order still required people to follow social distancing guidelines but allowed some businesses to open with a maximum of 50 percent of their capacity of customers at a time.
Starkville responded April 27 with an ordinance requiring all employees and customers over the age of 6 are required to wear protective face masks until Reeves’ order expires Monday at 8 a.m. The city’s 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew was first enacted April 7 and will also be in place until Monday.
Carver and Little were the only dissenting votes on April 27 as well, saying the mask requirement restricted people’s personal freedom of choice.
People can carry the COVID-19 virus without showing symptoms, and the mask protects others more than it protects the wearer from catching the virus, Dr. Cameron Huxford told the board. Huxford is the Intensive Care Unit medical director at OCH Regional Medical Center. He addressed the board at Carver’s request and said all eight patients OCH has admitted with COVID-19 so far had underlying health conditions.
Oktibbeha County has 57 confirmed cases and four deaths of COVID-19 as of 6 p.m. Monday, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health website. Three of the four deceased came to OCH from long-term care facilities. So did three more of the hospital’s eight COVID-19 patients, and two of them have since recovered and returned to the facilities, Huxford said.
OCH has not seen any cases since the weekend of April 25 and 26, but all the staff and patients at Rolling Hills Developmental Center were tested for COVID-19 after two staff members tested positive, Huxford said.
He said the reopening of some establishments should not encourage people to be out and about, especially if they have existing health conditions.
“We should protect each other, (and) if you’re in a population where you’re at risk, you should try to stay at home as best you can,” Huxford said.
Walker asked Huxford if some people might have underlying conditions and be unaware of it, and Huxford said this is a real possibility.
“Part of this (pandemic) is that people have not been going to the doctor to take care of some of their chronic health conditions because they’re afraid that they might contract the COVID-19 virus, so that’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “There are those who don’t know they’re sick, and there are those who are sick who aren’t going to the doctor.”
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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