With most residents and businesses already routinely ignoring it, Greenwood’s mask order is about to end.
City Council President Ronnie Stevenson informed his colleagues, during a special called meeting Thursday to address the city’s flooding emergency, that there would be no effort to extend the nearly yearlong mandate when it expires at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
“We’re not saying, ‘Don’t wear your masks.’ We’re encouraging people to still wear the masks,” Stevenson said. “There just won’t be an ordinance.”
Greenwood was one of several local governments around the state last year that mandated wearing masks in most indoor public spaces as a way to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Originally adopted in July 2020, the mandate was extended in April of this year until at least June 15. Ward 2’s Lisa Cookston was the lone council member to vote against the extension.
“People will be so happy,” Cookston said Thursday about the decision to let the mandate expire.
Compliance with the ordinance had fallen significantly in recent months — first in early March after Gov. Tate Reeves lifted his mandate that had covered most of Mississippi, then again in May, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people who were fully vaccinated could stop wearing facial coverings in most settings.
Even the City Council members struggled to comply with their own mandate. At Thursday’s meeting, four of the seven members did not wear masks, and the other three vacillated between putting theirs on and taking them off.
For the last several months, COVID-19 infections, deaths and hospitalizations have all slowed significantly in Leflore County and the rest of Mississippi. As of Thursday, 37% of Leflore County residents were fully vaccinated against the virus.
Stevenson said that, even after the ordinance expires, businesses could still mandate that their employees and patrons wear masks.
“If Market Place wants to have a mask mandate, they’re welcome to have it,” said Stevenson, referring to one of Greenwood’s grocery stores.
Areas outside Greenwood, though, could still be under a mask ordinance imposed by the Leflore County Board of Supervisors.
- Contact Tim Kalich at 581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
