Mayor Percy Bland extended the City of Meridian’s mask mandate until Feb. 28.

“We want to continue to ask each and every one of you guys to continue to wear your mask, continue to do as much as you can to social distance and take care of your family as far as everything is concerned with this virus,” Bland said in a Facebook Live video on Monday.

Under the mask order, businesses must require customers to wear a mask to enter the building.

It also requires citizens to wear a mask when they are “out and amongst the public” and mandates that business employees wear a mask when interacting with the public.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 1,701 new COVID-19 cases and 28 new COVID-19 related deaths on Monday, bringing the state’s totals to 208,089 cases and 4,634 deaths.

Lauderdale County reported 51 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the county’s total to 4,771 cases. No new deaths were reported; a total of 168 deaths have been reported in the county since March.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that the U.S. might see a post-holiday season surge in COVID-19. He described it as a “surge upon a surge,” as the U.S. has already been having having high case numbers, deaths and hospitalizations.

COVID-19 case and death numbers for local counties are listed below.

Clarke County: Ten new cases, 1,165 cases since March. No new deaths; 58 total deaths since March.

Newton County: 15 new cases; 1,557 total cases since March. No new deaths; 32 total deaths since March.

Kemper County: One new case; 643 total cases. No new deaths; 19 total deaths since March.

Neshoba County: 20 new cases; 2909 total cases. One new death, which occurred between November 12 and December 20; 139 total deaths since March.

As of Dec. 20, MSDH presumed 154,669 people had recovered from COVID-19. The department also reported that there are 235 ongoing outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term-care facilities.

Case count

County	Total Cases	Total Deaths	Total LTC Facility Cases	Total LTC Facility Deaths
Adams	1761	57	72	15
Alcorn	2068	40	120	18
Amite	833	21	54	7
Attala	1669	44	166	29
Benton	659	20	45	10
Bolivar	3274	95	223	30
Calhoun	1123	16	25	4
Carroll	915	18	46	9
Chickasaw	1544	36	49	15
Choctaw	492	10	1	0
Claiborne	694	18	43	9
Clarke	1165	58	108	28
Clay	1280	30	20	3
Coahoma	1924	52	127	11
Copiah	2136	43	73	9
Covington	1773	66	133	39
De Soto	14149	135	107	20
Forrest	5076	96	205	42
Franklin	562	7	40	1
George	1678	34	48	7
Greene	965	25	51	6
Grenada	1926	61	146	30
Hancock	1912	53	68	14
Harrison	10266	143	462	53
Hinds	13567	252	681	96
Holmes	1557	64	103	20
Humphreys	705	22	33	8
Issaquena	148	4	0	0
Itawamba	2178	50	123	22
Jackson	8476	153	215	25
Jasper	1339	25	13	1
Jefferson	460	14	21	3
Jefferson Davis	743	22	8	1
Jones	5021	96	202	39
Kemper	643	19	43	9
Lafayette	4141	78	182	46
Lamar	3955	59	45	13
Lauderdale	4771	168	370	87
Lawrence	910	16	27	2
Leake	1979	50	81	9
Lee	7370	115	205	40
Leflore	2553	98	204	48
Lincoln	2466	74	166	36
Lowndes	4178	88	187	40
Madison	6905	129	311	58
Marion	1707	60	151	20
Marshall	2840	63	62	15
Monroe	2854	85	179	53
Montgomery	955	31	54	9
Neshoba	2909	139	183	55
Newton	1557	32	74	11
Noxubee	909	20	22	4
Oktibbeha	3270	71	204	32
Panola	3068	69	103	13
Pearl River	2430	80	143	30
Perry	832	30	20	7
Pike	2138	65	106	27
Pontotoc	3075	40	20	3
Prentiss	2023	41	99	15
Quitman	591	7	0	0
Rankin	8449	161	318	46
Scott	2071	38	35	4
Sharkey	382	17	43	8
Simpson	1953	61	152	19
Smith	990	19	55	8
Stone	1126	18	63	9
Sunflower	2335	59	90	15
Tallahatchie	1187	30	43	7
Tate	2324	56	79	19
Tippah	1919	40	78	5
Tishomingo	1528	52	101	26
Tunica	724	19	15	2
Union	2678	36	106	16
Walthall	966	34	67	13
Warren	2566	77	163	37
Washington	4171	114	187	39
Wayne	1616	27	68	11
Webster	703	18	56	11
Wilkinson	516	23	24	5
Winston	1802	47	105	28
Yalobusha	967	31	81	22
Yazoo	2049	50	138	17
Total	208,089	4,634	9,139	1,673