Coronavirus infection rates have skyrocketed over the past two weeks across Mississippi and the nation. Governor Tate Reeves spoke on Facebook live Monday, saying the mass gatherings for protests in June ultimately lead to the increased COVID-19 infection rates throughout the nation. “We’ve literally had thousands and thousands and thousands of individuals marching in protests in virtually every city around this country," says Governor Reeves. "Now there are those in the national media who will have you believe that that had absolutely no impact on the rising number of cases. I would submit to you that common sense says otherwise.”
In a press conference last week, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs says there has not been any evidence linking protests to the rising Coronavirus numbers. He says “Our investigations have not revealed any specific links to protests. Right? Data is continuing to come in. Maybe it will in the future as we dig in more. It’s a question that we are very interested in asking.”
Protest leaders spoke out against the Governor’s tweet, saying those in attendance at the rally took proper measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Maisie Brown helped organize the Black Lives Matter protest outside the Governor’s mansion on June 6th. Brown says “I mean it was 90 something degrees and it was extremely humid but you saw people with their masks on the entire time. It’s hard to find a photo where there’s not a mask on someone’s face in some capacity or some way.”
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Derrick Simmons of Greenville says the Governor is not in a position to draw these conclusions. He says tweets like these seek to divide the people of Mississippi. “And so it’s very very disheartening if we’re gonna move to a Mississippi that he says he wants Mississippi to become and be the Governor for all Mississippians that we wouldn’t get divisive tweets, or we wouldn’t get any type of rhetoric from him that seeks to divide us," says Simmons.
Governor Reeves later clarified in a tweet his main concerns are with national media coverage of the coronavirus and protests, but he did not address his views of protests in Mississippi.
