Lauderdale County businesses reopen as restrictions are eased

Published 4:15 pm Monday, April 27, 2020

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.

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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