As COVID-19 vaccination rates keep rising, Leflore County supervisors continue to advocate for all residents to get their shots.
At the board’s meeting Monday, Board President Reginald Moore said everyone in the county needs to get out and get vaccinated.
“If you have not been vaccinated, please go and get the vaccination shot,” he said.
He said it is important to get the shot in order to stop the evolution of variants. Moore said he has received his first dose.
Vice President Robert Collins agreed. “We are not out of the woods yet,” he warned.
Anjuan Brown, supervisor for District 3, said he, Moore and District 4 Supervisor Eric Mitchell attended a conference recently and one of the speakers was Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state health officer. Brown said he asked Dobbs a question about how to make sure the Black community sees the importance of receiving the vaccine.
According to Brown, Dobbs and other state health officials said that people tend to trust their family doctors more than the state Department of Health or chain pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens and therefore they need to know that getting the shot from their doctors is an option.
The board also discussed COVID procedures for the county going forward.
One topic was getting the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide vaccinations at home for those who have a difficult time moving or getting out of the house.
Fred Randle, director of emergency management for the county, said he spoke to state health officials Monday morning and is working on getting the assistance. He also said that a second, smaller vaccination site may be opening soon to reduce the number of people continuing to get the doses at Florewood Park.
Randle did not yet say where the site would be or when it would be set up.
Since last month, COVID-19 vaccines have been available to all Mississippi residents 16 years and older.
According to state Health Department data, as of Monday morning, 14,717 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered in Leflore County and more than 1.3 million statewide. In total, 541,241 people in the state have received both doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine.
Additionally, citing the increase in vaccinations, the board approved reopening the Market Street entrance to the courthouse.
Since the start of the pandemic, the courthouse has been accessible only from the north entrance at the rear so that the body temperature of those entering could be monitored. Because the courthouse now has two high-tech thermometers, the board voted unanimously to open both sides of the building.
With this, the board also lifted the 10-person occupancy limit, which Brown and Mitchell admitted had not been followed closely.
Masks and social distancing in the building are still required.
In other business:
- The board approved allowing two festivals to take place this year at Florewood Park.
John Ray, an organizer of the events, brought a contract to the board for using the park for a festival in the summer and one in the fall. The summer event, named the “Down Home Blues Show,” is set to take place in June, and the fall event, the “Harvest Music Festival,” is scheduled for September in order to coincide with Mississippi Valley State University’s homecoming.
Ray held a concert at the park in 2019. His second, a concert in 2020, was approved, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to cancel it.
However on Monday, before the contract was approved, the board disagreed about the contract’s effectiveness date.
In its original form, the board would have been asked to approve events to take place each year for the next three years. Eventually the board approved Ray’s request with a modification to the contract allowing the event to take place for the next two years.
This was approved 4-1, with Collins voting in opposition because he wanted the contract to be considered for approval annually.
- The board decided to revisit county ordinances pertaining to chaining dogs outside.
District 1 Supervisor Sam Abraham said he has received complaints that dogs have been left chained to posts on metal leashes.
He and Moore said that this seems inhumane and they would like to revisit the ordinances in place on this subject.
- Mitchell brought to the board a complaint he heard that businesses were having a hard time being accepted into the Leflore County Manufacturing Business Development Center, also known as the Leflore County business incubator, on U.S. 82 across from Mississippi Valley State University.
He said he has heard from small business owners that they are having difficulty being approved by the anchor tenant, the Delta Lodging Group, to obtain office space there.
Since last March, Delta Lodging, a hotel and motel corporation, has been the main occupant of the 23,000-square-foot building. The question is who decides whether a business can occupy space in the incubator. The board said it would revisit the group’s contract to see if there are aspects that are misunderstood by the board and Delta Lodging.
- The board went into a closed session to discuss possible litigation. The supervisors returned after less than 15 minutes, and Board Attorney Joyce Chiles said no action had been taken.
- Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. On Twitter at @AdamBakst_GWCW.
