NATCHEZ, Miss. — City leaders are stressing that Natchez voters wear facial coverings at the polling places for today’s municipal election. Bailiffs will block people from entering the voting precincts without them.
COVID-19 masks will be available at the polls for voters who come without. As required by state law, electors must also have a photo ID to show pollworkers. Voters without can cast an alternative ballot and come to the Natchez city clerk’s office with the required identification within five days for their vote to count.
Legal questions have arisen about whether people refusing to wear a mask can be denied their right to vote. Outside curbside voting is allowed for those unable to go inside polling places.
The city’s mandate that people wear face coverings in public places ended Sunday at the expiration of various requirements and guidelines the Board of Aldermen imposed in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The six-member board Monday was to discuss whether to extend local COVID directives, but aldermen could not officially meet because only three were present. However, Natchez is under Mississippi’s “Safe Return” order that took effect Monday for all businesses and public venues to be open with various social-distancing and crowd-limit guidelines to restrain the contagion.
Natchez-Adams County emergency management officials reported Monday the county has at least 20 “active” cases of the coronavirus among the 200 Adams County residents confirmed to have been infected by the disease since March, according to the state Department of Health. While 15 Adams County residents have died from COVID-19, no deaths have recently been reported.
Merit Health Natchez reported Monday it had two coronavirus patients on ventilators in the hospital’s intensive care unit while four other patients were in recovery or rehabilitation. Last week marked the lowest number of COVID-19 patients in the Natchez hospital since the pandemic flared up in March, according to hospital administrator Lance Boyd.
With the community’s reopening of business and social sectors, there are concerns about another spike in COVID cases as people recongregate. “Don’t let your guard down,” said Adams County Emergency Management Director Brad Bradford. He stressed the need for people to wear masks in public, limit person-to-person contact and avoid large crowds.
The two-month-old curfew remains in place for Natchez-Adams County for at least another two weeks. The Adams County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved the night-time curfew’s extension to June 15. While people can’t be wandering or gathering together outside after 11 p.m., they can travel to and from legally operating businesses, such as the Magnolia Bluffs Casino and other Natchez-Adams County nightspots.
The local 11 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew began in March to curb the spread of the coronavirus and is not precipitated by the violent protests that have erupted this past week throughout the country.
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