Gov. Tate Reeves announced today that salons, barber shops, and gyms in Mississippi will be able to reopen after being closed for over a month.
In revising and extending the current safer-at-home, these businesses will be able to open under strict sanitary and social distancing guidelines.
“I cannot allow our small business to fold and families to be destroyed because of a government order,” Reeves said today.
The new order will be extended until Monday, May 25.
As the coronavirus pandemic is reaching its climax, Mississippi families are struggling to get by. Despite efforts from both the state and federal government to revive and reopen Mississippi’s economy, relief cannot come quick enough, especially for new and expecting mothers.
Mothers across the state are experiencing the financial difficulty surrounding unemployment while, simultaneously, trying to raise a family.
Many are single mothers, and some are without the support of family or friends. At first glance, the great personal responsibility of raising a child may seem too difficult a circumstance to possibly bear. However, there are organizations available to help situations such as this in times of crisis.
For example, the Students for Life of America chapter at the University of Mississippi have created an ingenious solution to help new and expecting mothers during the COVID-19 crisis. This group of students at Ole Miss are so passionate about what they advocate that they have created a campus initiative in coalition with their local pregnancy resource center, the Pregnancy Center of Oxford. The initiative is called, “Mother’s Day Project: Baby Registry.”
The registry, which is located on Amazon.com, allows individuals to purchase much needed supplies such as bottles, diapers, clothing, baby wipes, and other essential items for parenting. The purchased items will be delivered directly to restock the Pregnancy Center of Oxford. The goal of this initiative is to support pregnant and parenting mothers for Mother's Day.
New and expecting mothers visit the Pregnancy Center of Oxford year-round to receive items such as those being purchased from the Ole Miss Students for Life baby registry. Mothers can also receive training, counseling, and information about prenatal development, adoption, and contraceptive methods in addition to having access to lab quality pregnancy tests, ultrasound equipment, and referrals to medical professionals.
All services provided by them are always confidential and free of charge. As a non-profit organization, they rely on donations and volunteer efforts from the surrounding community and on those organizations similar to Students for Life of America.
The Students for Life of America is a national organization whose purpose is to recruit, train, and mobilize the pro-life generation to abolish abortion. Chapters are established on college campuses across the country and serve to educate other young people about the violence of abortion, create new pro-lifers, and transform campuses into places that support pregnant and parenting women.
The pro-life movement was sparked at the University of Mississippi campus following the murder of an Ole Miss student, Ally Kostial, in 2019. Kostial was reportedly with child at the time of her murder and had intentions of carrying to term.
Thanks to organizations like the Ole Miss Students for Life and the Pregnancy Center of Oxford, new or expecting mothers in and around Lafayette County will have some relief during the COVID-19 pandemic especially as Mother’s Day approaches. The initiative will be ongoing until Mother’s Day, May 10. Donations to the baby registry may be made online by searching “Mother’s Project and Pregnancy Oxford” under Amazon’s Baby Registry tab.
The Pregnancy Center of Oxford and the Ole Miss Students for Life can be reached respectively at [email protected] and [email protected].
Healthcare has long lagged behind other industries when it comes to innovation. But that is usually because of regulations, not because of a lack of entrepreneurs.
Telemedicine is an option that has picked up momentum as the coronavirus pandemic spread and people began looking for safer options than an in-person visit at a healthcare facility. But it is often underutilized – both by healthcare professionals and individuals, often because of state or federal regulations.
The same is true of the delivery of medications.
About half the states in America, mostly west of the Mississippi River, allow some form of telepharmacy. What is telepharmacy? As the name implies, it is the delivery of pharmaceutical care via technology to patients at a distance, often in areas where access to a pharmacist is limited or not available.
The regulations around telepharmacy vary greatly by state. For example, a common anti-competitive regulation is to prohibit telepharmacies from operating near traditional pharmacies.
This may be another store, which serves as an expansion of a current retail pharmacy or a kiosk.
The store-based model is staffed by one or more certified pharmacy technicians, supervised by a pharmacist, who reviews prescriptions and conducts live-video consulting with patients before drugs are dispensed.
Beyond stores, we also have kiosks that allow patients to get their prescription from what is essentially a vending machine. When we speak about social distancing, this is the tool that can meet that need, along with newfound convenience.
No, you can’t just go and get whatever you’d like without a prescription. The kiosks, which have a pharmacist on call for your help, have a digital address to which prescribers can e-prescribe or users can scan their phone with their prescription. Depending on the provider, you can upload your prescription to an app and know when it will be ready. Customers then enter their identification and insurance information and can pay with cards or cash. In some cases, the kiosks may be outside a hospital or on a college campus. Or they may be outside a retailer.
We’ve seen this technology before. Similar to ATM machines or RedBox, the kiosks provide a new level of convenience – as well as privacy – to customers. And they usually cost less without the staffing and other overhead expenses usually incurred by traditional brick and mortar pharmacies.
This is technology that is available today that is benefiting residents of other states. It can lead to cost savings for consumers and allow us to keep our distance in a world of social distancing.
First, Mississippi would need to legalize the technology.
While some businesses remain closed, most noticeably barbers and salons, a good chunk of the economy in Mississippi either never shut down or is in the process of reopening. But at the end of the day, it is the individual who will make the decision on when they are comfortable moving around.
Not an order from state or local governments.
All Americans are traveling more than a month ago according to Apple’s Mobility Charts, which aggregates data from Apple maps. And Mississippians are traveling more than the average American.
Mississippians began to greatly limit travel toward the end of March, down almost 60 percent at one point from a January baseline. Yet over the past weekend, the numbers were above the baseline and have floated up and down over the last week. Right now, travel is down 15 percent from the baseline.
After Mississippians voluntarily distanced themselves for a certain period of time, they then voluntarily made the decision that it was safe to be out and about based on the personal risks surrounding each individual and their family.
And that is why we see these numbers fluctuate, based on personal stories, circumstances, and where you live.
Louisiana, which has one of the highest rates of positive coronavirus cases and deaths in the country, saw a decline that was greater than Mississippi and for a longer period of time. And the data reflects the impact. Travel in Louisiana is down 42 percent from the January baseline, with numbers 20 to 50 percent below the baseline over the past week.
So, a state where the pandemic has had a much larger toll on the citizens sees fewer people traveling. Yes, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has taken a much more draconian push to shut down businesses than Gov. Tate Reeves in Mississippi, but it also shows the effect of personal responsibility and individual choices.
It’s almost as if we can make the best decisions for ourselves.
We see that even within Louisiana. Much like the pandemic hasn’t impacted every state or region of the country the same, it hasn't impacted every part of Louisiana the same. So while travel is down over 40 percent in Louisiana, it is down almost 70 percent in New Orleans, a city that was among the hardest hit in the country.
Over the past month or so, the decline has been 60 to 80 percent in New Orleans. It’s starting to break some, but not in any large numbers. Again, these are choices individuals are making based on their perceived well-being.
Some economies may open sooner than others, but the economy will truly open when Americans decide they are ready for that to happen. And that will vary among cities, states, and industries.
We never quit going to Walmart or Home Depot. But will Mississippians be back at restaurants on Thursday? We don’t know, but the market will decide if restaurants are really open. Just like restaurants will need to decide if they can be open at half capacity with a host of new regulations.
Even in a state of emergency, the market doesn't lie.
“I, personally, closed my salon on March 21, 2020.
“Today, salons are at an almost total loss of revenue and stylists at a complete loss of income. Our ability to provide for ourselves and our families has been stripped from us. This is our livelihood. It is more than “essential” to us and our families. It is our lifeline and it has been severed.
“Most of us have not received unemployment benefits, stimulus checks, SBA, or PPP loans. Those of us who have received any of these, have found that assistance to be a fraction of our usual income, needless, to say nothing near what may be required to sustain our households.
“The beauty industry, especially in the south, is predominantly female driven. Seventeen percent of our family households in Mississippi are mothers and their children with no second income producer in the home. This stand still is beyond debilitating. It is complete devastation for many. Our bills are piling up, our pantries are running dry, and our hands are tied behind our backs, with no definite end in sight and no real help on the way. We cannot re-open our businesses, we cannot offer services in our homes, we cannot go into others’ homes, we cannot sell our services online.
“The long-term ramifications are serious. If we become so desperate to feed our children, to pay our electricity, or obtain any other necessities, and we choose to go against current orders, we risk not only being fined, but, could permanently lose our license. No one wants that. We just want the right to work, to pursue our livelihoods, to provide for ourselves. There is no logical reason, with proper measures taken, we should be denied that opportunity any longer. We have not even had the chance to propose solutions. The Board of Cosmetology has not advocated for us. They have only relayed how we will have our hands slapped or permanently tied if we do not comply.
“While the virus may be invisible, the effects are becoming increasingly, painfully, visible. We are suffering.”
Lindsay Cash
Vamp The Salon
Jackson, Mississippi
In this episode of Unlicensed, MCPP’s Brett Kittredge talks with James Broughel of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University about the regulatory changes we have seen in light of the coronavirus pandemic and where we go from here.
Gov. Tate Reeves updated his safer-at-home order today, opening new parts of the Mississippi economy, as well as parks and recreation.
Dining halls can reopen in restaurants and bars at 50 percent capacity. They must also screen customers and employees upon entering, and all employees must wear masks. Bars that do not serve food must remain closed.
The gathering limitation for outdoor activities has increased from 10 to 20, while it remains at 10 for indoor activities.
"This is a start," Reeves said. "We’ll continue to evaluate and move up from here."
Reeves also spoke on barber shops and salons, saying they have spent more time on this topic than any other over the past two weeks. But, at this point they are not able to reopen.
"We’ll get there but I can’t do that today," Reeves added. "I want you to get back to work but I can't put the people of our state at unreasonable risks."
The order goes into effect Thursday and will remain in place until Monday, May 11.
There was a time not that long ago when homeschooling wasn’t legal in all 50 states. Today it is, but government regulations vary by state – making it harder to homeschool and more burdensome in certain states.
By most measures, Mississippi has parent friendly homeschool regulations, only requiring parents to fill out an attendance form with their local school district. But the government doesn’t regulate curriculum, testing, or schedules.
Bills occasionally pop up in the legislature to mandate curriculum, as a bill from Rep. John Hines did this year, or to restrict various freedoms. There are also annual bills to lower the age of compulsory education. But for the most part there is a truce if you will. Tim Tebow bills to allow homeschoolers to participate in athletics or extracurricular activities of their local school districts (where you still pay taxes) never see the light of day, but fortunately, neither do the government mandates.
Today, about 15,000-20,000 students in Mississippi are homeschooled.
But we are seeing national movement from academic elites to rein in homeschooling freedom. Why? Because every child is currently being homeschooled as government schools throughout the country shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
What if just 10 percent of these families decided to continue homeschooling next year? It would represent a massive shift in the education landscape and result in fewer tax dollars going to the government schools that would be serving fewer students.
Though it was recently scrapped, Harvard University – where the attacks on homeschooling are originating – planned an anti-homeschooling conference for June that would focus on the “problems of educational deprivation and child maltreatment” of homeschooling.
They claim child abuse or lack of a proper education as their concern and thesis, but the greater push is twofold: the belief that government controls every child and a bigotry toward people who are religious, the original reason many chose to homeschool.
Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Bartholet has called for a “presumptive ban on homeschooling” saying it violates a children’s right to “meaningful education.” That’s certainly debatable considering the percentage of American students in government schools who are proficient in reading and math (hint: it’s not many).
But she also argues that parents should get permission from the government to homeschool. Meaning, the burden of proof shifts to the parents and they have to make their case with the government on why they should be allowed to remove their children from government school. Essentially, you must beg the crown for this right. Your child is basically a product of the state in Bartholet’s view, and the view of many other elites. You are only allowed to do certain things. Everything else comes from the state.
That obviously isn’t true. And the Supreme Court even struck that argument a century ago.
The other part of the disdain from parents who want freedom for their children is because many of those parents do so for religious reasons. Many homeschooling families “are driven by conservative Christian beliefs” and “some of these parents are extreme religious ideologues.” One could argue that anyone who believes in God is an “extreme religious ideologue” in the mind of Bartholet. Or at least believes in God…and tries to follow His word.
The truth is for many, the ability to teach your children about the Bible isn’t the reason you homeschool, just another in a long line of reasons.
A child isn’t a creature of the state. Parents have the right to raise and educate their children as they seem fit. Homeschooling has long been, and will continue to be, looked at with disdain from elites. Fortunately, neither they, nor the government, control your child.
Just three days after Mississippi Justice Institute filed a lawsuit against Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s order banning open carry, the mayor appears to be backing down.
The order expires today with Lumumba choosing not to renew it, even though he previously indicated he might extend the open carry ban, and even though he did extend portions of his “stay at home” order.
“We are glad that Mayor Lumumba appears to have realized that he cannot lawfully disarm law-abiding citizens and ‘suspend’ constitutional rights,” said Aaron Rice, the Director of the Mississippi Justice Institute. “Now, more than ever, we must remain vigilant to protect our civil liberties. MJI will always be here to fight for Mississippians when an overbearing government tries to infringe on the freedoms that are the strength of our state and our country.”
MJI, a non-profit constitutional litigation center and the legal arm of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, brought the suit on Monday on behalf of State Rep. Dana Criswell.
“We are pleased that the mayor decided to do the right thing,” said MJI volunteer attorney, Sterling Kidd.
The U.S. Constitution and the Mississippi Constitution protect the right to openly carry firearms in public for self-defense, as do Mississippi statutes. A mayor does not have the authority to override these constitutional rights, even during a state of emergency.
MJI will continue to monitor the situation to ensure the ban is dropped and to explore any potential legal remedies.