Reeves to announce Friday if Mississippi will end shelter in place as scheduled

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves will announce Friday at 9 a.m. whether the state’s shelter-in-place proclamation will be lifted as scheduled.

Reeves and other governors are meeting today with President Donald Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force to discuss plans to re-open the economy.

I will be attending a meeting with President Trump and the COVID-19 Task Force tomorrow during the time we would typically have a press briefing. We will have one on Friday at 9:00 AM, where I will announce our decision on the shelter-in-place order that is set to expire Monday.

— Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) April 15, 2020

Mississippi’s proclamation is scheduled to expire on Monday, April 20.

Dr. Daniel Edney, a member of the Mississippi COVID-19 Task Force and a Vicksburg physician, warned not to jump the gun “while the eye of the storm is over us,” and recommended another week for sheltering in place in a Facebook post Thursday.

“Our new cases per day are still climbing but we’re expecting the peak to be sometime in the next 7 days. As our testing results lag a few days, we may well be at the apex now,” Edney wrote. “Our communities have done a great job in flattening the curve with the main goal being to keep from swamping our hospitals and ICUs AND to reduce deaths. Currently, we are in good shape with our hospitals and although our deaths are still high (10-14/day), it is much lower than predicted earlier.

“Another week SHOULD see us through the worst of it. Our high risk folks will need to continue to shelter in place for another 4-6 weeks until the case load is way down but we should be able to slowly start to open up for normal risk individuals very soon. We must not sound the “All Clear” while the eye of the storm is over us but it will be better soon. Many thanks to everyone who has followed the State Health Department restrictions. It is making a difference and saving lives and the life you save may be your own. Blessings and we will keep you informed.”

The Vicksburg Daily News will post the governor’s announcement live on our Facebook page tomorrow.