Meridian Mayor- "Hospitals at capacity"

Following the rise of COVID cases in the area, Meridian Mayor Jimmie Smith held a press conference today to encourage citizens to wear masks when out in public and to get the COIVD vaccine. The mayor says that this is not a mandate but instead an incitement to practice COVID safety.

Councilwoman Tyeasha Bell, Mayor Jimmie Smith, Public Safety Director Doug Stephens, Councilman Joseph Norwood ( Photo from left to right)

“Good Evening, good afternoon, we are here this afternoon to discuss a mask encouraging situation. I spoke with the council over the night and each councilperson was concerned about us doing something for the community to encourage the community to wear masks and get vaccinated.” - Mayor Jimmie Smith

Along with the public safety recommendation, the mayor also confirmed that hospitals are at capacity and is asking the resident to do their part by doing what they can to stay out of the hospital.

“It’s imperative that we realize that our Meridian hospitals are at capacity. That means that we had about 1,900 cases of covid that's been reported this month, that’s about 145 cases per day over the last 7 days. To help the public, the requirement as Mayor of Meridian is to encourage citizens to get vaccinated and wear facial masks. It’s important that we encourage our folks to do this because if someone gets ill, has a heart attack, or anything of that nature, then the hospitals don’t have the capacity to treat them as normal because they are at capacity. We have to encourage the public as a whole to wear a mask and also get the vaccination” - Mayor Jimmie Smitht

To support this recommendation, Public Safety Director, Doug Stephens says that the administration will conduct mask and sanitizer distribution. More information about that to come as it becomes available