With no clear picture of how quickly customers will return, some Lauderdale County businesses began opening their doors to the public Monday, now permitted under an order from Gov. Tate Reeves. 

The order allows some non-essential businesses like retail stores to reopen and allow 50-percent capacity.

In Marion, Jeanne Jones was able to open her gift boutique, Southern Accents.

“We’ve already sanitized everything,” she said. “We have sanitizer at the front door, masks. We ask that each customer wear their mask and then we’ll be watching for the amount of customers in there so we won’t have too many at one time.”

Jones planned to have staff sanitize the checkout area after each transaction.

While the store was closed to the public over the past few weeks, customers helped keep business going by ordering online, Jones said.

Though she was excited about reopening, she wasn’t sure how ready customers would be to shop in public again.

“I think it’s going to be a personal thing,” she said. “I think some customers are, some are not.”

For that reason, she will continue to offer curbside and online sales.

At Troy Brand Furniture on Poplar Springs Drive, co-owner Bill Brand also opened his doors for the first time in weeks.

“We’re wearing masks when people are in the store and gloves and wiping doors and stuff behind them and trying to keep our distance, try to keep this as safe as possible,” he said.

A few customers had come in by Monday afternoon, he said. 

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Brand said. “Hopefully, it will slowly pick back up. All we can do is hope and pray.”

Debbie Mathis, owner of Crooked Letter in downtown Meridian, has decided to reopen Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for walk-in traffic.

She planned to have gloves and sanitizer available for customers. 

Businesses reopening in Meridian will face some continued restrictions, according to a city order announced Friday that went into effect Monday. 

Ther order states that all employees of essential businesses and non-essential businesses that are open to maintain minimal operations must wear a mask when in the same space as employees or the public.

The city’s retail stores are required to have employees and customers wear masks and follow social distancing of six feet or more and hand-washing protocol, according to the order.

The city’s 9 p.m. to 6 a.m curfew has been extended to May 15.

The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Lauderdale County surpassed 300 Monday, as health officials reported nine new cases.

At 304, the county continues to have the second highest number of cases in the state. Seventy of the cases are in long-term care facilities, records show.

Nineteen people from Lauderdale County have died from the virus, more than any other county, according to the health department.

Anderson Regional Medical Center was hospitalizing 26 patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 Monday, according to the hospital’s website.

Rush Foundation Hospital is not providing daily hospitalization numbers.

State health officials reported 47 cases and three deaths in Clarke County, 49 cases and one death in Kemper County, 156 cases and three deaths in Neshoba County, and 64 cases in Newton County.

MSDH confirmed 183 new cases of COVID-19 in Mississippi Monday, for a total of 6,094, and two additional deaths, for a total of 229 statewide.

Mississippi COVID-19 Cases to Date

Table of total cases, deaths, and cases in long-term care (LTC) facilities since March 11, 2020.

County	Total Cases	Total Deaths	Total Cases in LTC Facilities
Adams	116	7	21
Alcorn	8	0	0
Amite	26	0	1
Attala	86	0	16
Benton	9	0	0
Bolivar	101	7	13
Calhoun	50	3	23
Carroll	20	1	1
Chickasaw	64	5	21
Choctaw	13	1	0
Claiborne	19	0	0
Clarke	47	3	9
Clay	31	2	0
Coahoma	58	2	1
Copiah	79	1	1
Covington	51	0	0
Desoto	266	4	2
Forrest	190	8	17
Franklin	17	1	0
George	11	1	0
Greene	4	1	0
Grenada	27	0	14
Hancock	60	5	7
Harrison	159	6	1
Hinds	421	7	13
Holmes	114	5	26
Humphreys	18	3	1
Itawamba	49	2	27
Jackson	240	6	38
Jasper	32	1	0
Jefferson	12	0	0
Jefferson Davis	27	1	1
Jones	130	1	9
Kemper	49	1	4
Lafayette	88	3	35
Lamar	92	2	0
Lauderdale	304	19	70
Lawrence	36	0	1
Leake	161	1	0
Lee	70	4	1
Leflore	137	15	27
Lincoln	136	9	45
Lowndes	45	2	3
Madison	208	6	13
Marion	58	5	13
Marshall	41	2	0
Monroe	144	9	69
Montgomery	19	1	0
Neshoba	156	3	2
Newton	64	0	1
Noxubee	52	0	7
Oktibbeha	46	3	6
Panola	38	2	0
Pearl River	153	14	30
Perry	26	1	0
Pike	136	5	12
Pontotoc	18	2	1
Prentiss	32	1	19
Quitman	14	0	0
Rankin	171	5	6
Scott	258	0	8
Sharkey	5	0	0
Simpson	40	0	2
Smith	65	4	18
Stone	22	0	0
Sunflower	52	2	0
Tallahatchie	11	1	0
Tate	38	0	1
Tippah	52	7	0
Tishomingo	8	0	0
Tunica	35	1	12
Union	15	1	1
Walthall	29	0	0
Warren	50	2	0
Washington	77	3	4
Wayne	19	0	0
Webster	16	1	0
Wilkinson	68	7	5
Winston	40	0	0
Yalobusha	19	0	0
Yazoo	126	1	0
Total	6,094	229	679

The numbers in this table are provisional. County case numbers and deaths may change as investigation finds new or additional information about residence.

–Mississippi Department of Health