Masks are now required to be used in public inside the city limits of Winona.
The Winona Board of Aldermen met via teleconference Wednesday night and elected to issue an order requiring the use of face masks or face coverings to cover the nose and mouth in public buildings or businesses. This order will go into effect Friday morning at 8 a.m. The measure was passed unanimously behind an Alderman Mickey Austin motion and Alderman David Ware second.
According to Mayor Jerry Flowers, after speaking with a local physician and the number of cases of coronavirus doubling in Montgomery County in the last eight days, he called a special-called meeting of the board to take further protective action to prevent the continued spread of the coronavirus.
Wednesday morning, Montgomery County reported 30 cases of coronavirus, nearly double of that reporting a week prior.
The board order requires everyone working inside a business or those dealing with customers outdoors as well as customers to wear face masks or coverings. It also requires businesses to place signs on their doors alerting customers to the new rule. Also, the order requires businesses to sanitize shopping carts or provide disinfectant at the front of the store to allow customers the opportunity to do it.
“Pulling a shirt over your face does not count,” Ware remarked.
Flowers agreed, “It has to be a mask, a scarf, or something separate.”
The board declined to set a monetary penalty Wednesday. Austin asked if a fine schedule could be addressed at next Tuesday’s board meeting and allow the public a few days grace period become informed of the city’s order requiring face masks. The board agreed.
This week, the Mississippi Department of Health’s numbers show a spike in the number of positive cases in Carroll and Montgomery counties, with 30 and 25 respectively. The MSDH is also reporting that two residents in a long-term care facility in Carroll County have tested positive.
