Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) is reconsidering his plan to keep reversing his stay-at-home order after his state saw its largest spike in COVID-19 cases in one day following his first partial rollback.
“Things can change quickly,” the GOP governor said during a press briefing on Friday. “We have to stay flexible.”
Mississip State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, who was also present at the briefing, reported that there were 397 new cases in Mississippi, “the largest number of cases we’ve reported in a single day.”
Tate, who had issued an executive order that allowed some businesses to reopen effective April 24, told reporters that he had originally planned to announce more reopenings during the press conference, then changed his mind upon hearing about the sudden surge in cases.
“The increase was a large enough change to make me take a step back, reexamine things and must hold on and reconsider at least over the weekend,” the governor said. “Not to recklessly put people in harm’s way.”
Mississippi’s department of health reported that as of Friday, there are over 7,400 cases of the virus in Mississippi and 291 deaths.
