Gov. Tate Reeves announced today that the state will be taking a measured approach to reopen Mississippi as the current shelter-in-place order is replaced with a new, safer-at-home order. The new order will be in effect Monday at 8 a.m.

“We are facing a historic economic crisis,” Reeves said. “The economic damage has been particularly cruel to the working class. Those who work on their feet, those who don’t have a home office, or paid leave.”

Many currently closed businesses will be allowed to open under certain circumstances. Retail stores can reopen, but they must reduce capacity by 50 percent based on their designated full capacity. Masks are highly recommended, but not mandated.

A large grouping of currently closed businesses – including movie theaters, bars, museums, casinos, salons and barber shops, gyms, and clubs – will remain closed. Restaurants remain limited to curbside, take out, or delivery as dining rooms are still closed. 

Gatherings of 10 or more remain prohibited, and Reeves said this will be enforced. There is also a classification of the most vulnerable, including the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions, who are required to continue sheltering in place. 

Still, Reeves continued to stress personal responsibility asking all Mississippi to stay at home except for essential travel.

“That’s still the safest behavior,” Reeves added. “You still have to be smart. You are responsible for your safety and the safety of your loved ones. We trust Mississippians to make good, personal decisions.

“There is not a government replacement for wisdom. We believe in personal responsibility. You should do what you think is best for your family.”

Municipalities are allowed to be more strict, but they are not allowed to be in conflict with the state order as it relates to designated essential businesses.

The order is in effect for two weeks, though Reeves sounded very confident that they may review the order prior to see if more of the state can open up. 

Beginning Saturday, everyone working at or visiting a business will be required to wear a mask in Oxford.

According to the Oxford Eagle, the city updated their emergency order today. Businesses must monitor all points of interest and prohibit those not wearing a mask from entering their establishment. If businesses are not following the ordinance, they could be issued a ticket and subsequent fine from a municipal judge. 

According to Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill, the city adopted the ordinance because city residents called government officials to complain of people in stores not adhering to proper social distancing guidelines and not wearing masks. 

The order will remain in effect until May 18. 

The Greenville City Council has updated their ordinance that previously prohibited drive-in church services less than a week after Mississippi Justice Institute filed a lawsuit on behalf of the King James Bible Baptist Church. 

As members recently arrived at church, they were greeted by virtually every member of the Greenville police department and threatened with fines as they arrived for drive-in church services that evening.

MJI, a non-profit constitutional litigation center and the legal arm of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, along with First Liberty Institute, the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty for all Americans, then announced a challenge to the city’s ban on drive-in church services. 

On Tuesday, the city revised their policy to expressly permit churches to host drive-in services.

King James Bible Baptist Church, and others, will be able to continue to freely worship in a way that is safe and consistent with their religious beliefs and practical needs. 

“I have owned my business for 33 years. My husband and I both have small businesses. I know there are a lot of people struggling that are also self-employed.

“I will say that the help has been very disappointing. No SBA loan, no PPP loan, no stimulus check, and no unemployment. 

“Right now, there is no income for our family. We have to open soon, or we will not have any businesses. They both will be gone. Our economy cannot hold out any longer. So please open it up so we can survive. 

“I don’t know how this will turn out, but I keep my faith and I will survive.”

Deshea Dilmore
Gaeleria The Salon
Ridgeland, Mississippi

Those hoping for a federal bailout for Mississippi’s ailing defined benefit pension system will be disappointed.

According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he doesn’t favor a federal bailout of pension funds in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. McConnell said that he’d prefer the bankruptcy route for states with massive, unfunded pension liabilities, such as New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut. No state has declared bankruptcy since the Great Depression.

The Illinois pension funds have an astronomical unfunded liability of $137 billion, as of 2019. New Jersey’s state and local pension funds have $62 billion in unfunded liabilities as of fiscal 2018.  In 2019, Connecticut had a funding ratio (which is defined as the share of future obligations covered by current assets) of 38 percent and an unfunded liability of $21.2 billion.

While Mississippi is in better shape than those three states, just bailing out the state’s unfunded pension liability won’t be cheap. The Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi now has an unfunded liability of more than $17.6 billion or three years of all general fund tax revenues.

PERS serves most state, city and municipal employees in the state and is only 60.9 percent fully funded. 

When asked by radio host Hugh Hewitt about how those three states had given too much to public sector unions, McConnell said there was little appetite among Republicans for a bailout.

“You raised yourself the important issue of what states have done, many of them have done to themselves with their pension programs,” McConnell said to Hewitt. “There’s not going to be any desire on the Republican side to bail out state pensions by borrowing money from future generations.”

Demographics and an unsustainable cost of living adjustment are two reasons why PERS is struggling. In 2005, there were 157,101 employees contributing into the system and 69,939 retirees.

By 2019, the number of employees contributing to PERS had shrunk to 150,651, while the number of retirees was up to 107,844. This represents a 54 percent increase in only 15 years.

With those numbers up, payments under the PERS’ cost of living plan are also eating a bigger chunk of the plan’s seed corn. PERS provides a cost of living adjustment that amounts to three percent of the annual retirement allowance for each full fiscal year of retirement until the retired member reaches age 60.

From that point, the three percent rate is compounded for each fiscal year. Since many retirees and beneficiaries choose to receive it as a lump sum at the end of the year, the benefit is known as the 13th check.

Last year, the plan paid $650 million in COLA to beneficiaries. This year, that amount grew 7.6 percent to nearly $700 million. As a percentage of benefits paid, the COLA grew from 24.9 percent of benefits paid in 2018 to 25.4 this year. 

“I have short-term and long-term rental properties in Oxford. 

“At this point I have only seen my Airbnb take a hit, but I'm pretty worried about the rumors for football to not come back or even a possible cancelling of the fall semester. I can handle the loss in Airbnb revenue, though that's about $6,000 this summer alone. I can't handle the loss of the five other homes and that rental roll being taken away. 

“I also have an ownership interest in a company that's a Grove vendor. We set up TVs and satellite dishes for other tent vendors across the Grove. Bookings are pretty dead right now as everyone waits to see what is going to happen. 

“I don't know of any business that plans on 3-6 months of zero revenue. I understand having cash reserves and trying to be prepared for contingencies in business, but no business owner plans for losses of revenue ranging from 50-95 percent for months. 

“I'm just ready to see the economy turned back on and the government to get out of the way.”

Nathan McCartney
Real estate investor
Oxford, Mississippi

As the coronavirus quarantine continues to spread in Mississippi and throughout the country, many are asking the same question: When will we hit our peak? And when will life be back to normal?

One of the most frequently cited models is that of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. This provides projections for every state in the nation, incorporating current trend lines of deaths in the United States, with total projected deaths, and the peak day – the day we will see the most deaths. 

According to the most recent estimates, Mississippi is projected to hit peak daily deaths of 14 on April 25. That represents 0.4 daily deaths per 100,000 residents. That is the projection. The range shows we could see somewhere between 2 to 54 deaths on the peak day.

According to the current data, Mississippi is projected to see 400 deaths because of coronavirus, though the range now shows between 208 and 1,014. To date, there have been 193 deaths in the state. We are also not expected to see hospital bed shortages. 

How does that compare to neighboring states?

Most of the national coverage has focused on the hotspots around New York, or closer to home, in Louisiana. To get a better idea of what Mississippi’s projections mean, we took a closer look at projections for states closest to Mississippi. 

The model is heavily dependent on social distancing measures such as stay-at-home orders, closing non-essential businesses, and closing schools. It assumes social distancing orders remain in place until the end of May. 

These projections are current as of April 23. This will be updated regularly to reflect any changes.

Gov. Tate Reeves said today that the state will make final decisions about the current shelter-in-place order within the next 36 to 48 hours.

"We will take the position that every business is essential to the person that works there, and that it is certainly essential to the small business owners who employ those individuals," Reeves said.

The current order expires on April 27.

Reeves said it was too early to provide a definitive statement on what the order will look like, but that they will rely on data from various industries, while taking a localized approach, either regionally or on a county-by-county basis.

"I do not think there is a high probability that we will extend the shelter-in-place in its entirety," Reeves added. "As we look at various regions, industries, its fair to say we will continue to loosen restrictions from state government with respect to shelter-in-place."

The recovery will likely be rolled out, much as the original order was as it was put in place.

"We were slower than most, intentionally so, and I would argue correctly so, in putting the shelter-in-place order in effect," Reeves said. "We took measures throughout that process, which eased us into it. I think what you will see over the next two, three, four weeks is measures that incrementally get us out of it."

As for restaurants, Reeves hasn't made a final decision on how or when they will be able to open.

“We own Little Yazoo Sports Bar & Grill in Yazoo City. 

“They say we are non-essential, but I beg to differ. We provide a place where people can come to and get away from all of their troubles. 

“We have trunk or treat every year for the kids, a womanless beauty pageant for Yazoo county kids in foster care, and also provide a drop off point for the Girls Scouts of America cookies. We help sort out the orders and help deliver them. 

“We hold benefits for people in need. Over the past five years, we have raised over $20,000 to help our community. So, it's vital not just for my family but our community. We volunteered to close before the order because we would be taken care of by the SBA grants and loans. We have received nothing!

“We can't continue to be closed or we'll lose everything.”

Edward and Kristi Ferrell
Little Yazoo Sports Bar & Grill
Yazoo City, Mississippi