Photo courtesy State of Mississippi

JACKSON — Today, Governor Tate Reeves announced that he is extending the social distancing measures under the Safe Return and county-specific executive orders to continue combating the rising cases of COVID-19 across the state.

Consulting daily with state health officials on measured strategies to limit transmission and reviewing the data of the spike in cases, the Governor has extended the social distancing measures until Monday, August 17 at 8:00 AM.

"We are throwing everything that we can at the hospital crisis in our state, and we are going to continue working to ensure the integrity of our health care system," said Governor Tate Reeves to today's press briefing. "I want to underscore again: even if you do not personally fear Coronavirus, the overwhelming of the system affects everybody. If you get in a car wreck, you don’t want to be treated in a tent like we saw in other parts of the country. You want to get the best possible care."

The Governor also announced that eight additional counties within our state had reached the hotspot threshold set by state health experts. Under Executive Order No. 1515, the following counties have been added to the county-specific executive orders with tighter social distancing measures going into effect on Monday, August 3 to help limit transmission: Carroll, Coahoma, Jones, Lee, Leflore, Lowndes, Noxubee, and Pontotoc Counties.

The Governor made the announcements at today's press briefing, which you can view on our Facebook page here.

You can view the text versions of the new executive orders here: Executive Order No. 1514, Executive Order No. 1515. Signed versions of all executive orders related to COVID-19 can be found on our website at governorreeves.ms.gov/covid-19.