In his first crisis as Mississippi’s governor, Tate Reeves’ performance in meeting the challenge of COVID-19 is best characterized as slow to respond and confusing in direction.
Reeves did not issue his first executive order detailing what restrictions would be put in place in the state until Tuesday, almost two weeks after the first confirmed case in the state. In the absence of that guidance, cities and counties from one end of the state to the other had already started implementing their own restrictions, some as much as a week ago.
Without a uniform policy or clear direction from the state, local governments were left to their own devices, which meant the rules varied widely.
Local governments implemented a range of new policies, from placing restrictions on restaurants, ordering non-essential businesses to close or reduce hours, banning social gatherings of 10 or more people and establishing curfews.
Had the governor moved more quickly in establishing state-wide policy, those local governments could have used it as a model to craft their own policies, ensuring that the citizens throughout the state would know what is expected of them.
To make matters worse, section 3b of Reeves’ original order nullified more restrictive policies already implemented by many local governments.
For example, multiple local governments dictated that restaurants could not serve dine-in customers. Reeves’ order overruled that policy and allowed dine-in service as long as there were no more than 10 customers dining at any given time. The order also classified a wide range of businesses in the state as “essential.”
Some cities — Oxford and Tupelo, for example — began rolling back policies that appeared to be in conflict with the governor’s order immediately. Other city/county leaders maintained they were entitled to enact policies that are more stringent than those outlined in the order.
The confusion was such that Reeves issued an amendment to his order Thursday afternoon, less than 48 hours after his original order, stating that local orders can be more stringent than those outlined in the executive order, but not less.
Reeves’ amendment stressed no local orders can interfere with essential businesses, however, which affirms the supremacy of the executive order over local. As it stands, any local government order closing or limiting hours of many businesses is unenforceable.
The lack of consistency and clear direction we see in our state is sadly on display on the national level as well.
Given two months to prepare for the inevitable large scale arrival of the virus in the U.S., the Trump administration moved slowly and ineffectively in the critical early weeks. Supplies, including tests and basic safety equipment (mask, gloves, shields, ventilators), are only now being produced and deployed in anything approaching sufficient numbers. Reports lamenting the lack of leadership on this pandemic from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention have also surfaced.
The number of U.S. cases now exceeds those of China.
America simply wasn’t ready. That’s unconscionable.
Throughout the pandemic, the President has often minimized the severity of the crisis, contradicted health experts and squabbled with media and other perceived enemies at a time our nation needed clear and reliable leadership.
There has been no national unified response to the pandemic. As we have seen, states have largely been left on their own to establish and implement policy.
In our state, the absence of clear-eyed, decisive leadership forced local governments to take matters into their own hands.
We commend local leaders throughout the state for making the tough decisions necessary to help flatten the curve, especially when state leaders failed to do so. Unfortunately, with an enemy such as a virus, social distancing is most effective when we’re all on the same page. Leadership at the state level and above has consistently failed to define what that page is.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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