The Charleston Mayor and Board of Commissioners, in an amendment to their June 3 COVID-19 "safe return order," has mandated the wearing of face masks in "all public places" within the Charleston city limits and adopted other restrictions.
"Face mask must be capable of covering the mouth and nose and may be procedural or surgical mask or made of whole cloth," which was adopted and became effective Monday, July 13.
The edict applies to both staff and customers of businesses and other public offices, City Clerk Ana Ealy explained Monday.
"Anywhere in public," she noted, adding that it also applies to churches.
Ealy said police officers were hand-delivering copies of the updated coronavirus regulations Monday to "each business and church" in the city.
Other provisions of the amendment that apply inside Charleston:
» No more than 10 people may gather inside one building.
» No more than 20 people may gather outdoors.
» All businesses must close by 10 p.m. daily and cannot reopen until 5 the next morning — the same hours of the existing citywide curfew.
» Anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 must be self-quarantined in their home and remain there until they are cleared with a negative test performed by a doctor or other trained medical professional.
Violators of any of these regulations may be assessed a fine of up to $300 and/or 30 days in jail.
"The board made the order, and we're going to enforce it the best way we can," Charleston Police Chief Justin Gammage said Monday, while adding that some leniency will be shown where justified.
"There will be some warnings given," Gammage noted. "We understand that some people might not see [the amendment] or might not understand it, and the officers will try their best to make it known to people."
He said officials know that people must travel back and forth to work, and police officers will take that into account.
"You have to go to the store, you have to have essential items," Gammage said. "But riding around town is not an essential task. Hanging out in a parking lot is not an essential task. ... We can't stop you from going, but you do have a curfew and you do have a time to be inside."
The chief said the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Tallahatchie County — the Mississippi State Department of Health reported Monday that between July 6 and July 12, Tallahatchie County had the fourth-highest incidence of confirmed cases per capita — has led to the stiffer regulations being adopted.
"Everyone will be safer at home," he noted. "The only way to combat this is to try and not to spread this virus any further. We need to only use essential travel. We need to just stay in and try to let the virus pass us, because it's running rampant in our town and our county."
MSDH's latest report Monday showed Tallahatchie County had 197 confirmed cases and 4 deaths due to COVID-19.
