Dear Friend,
COVID-19 Testing Sites and Resources
The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) and the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) will be operating drive-through testing sites
in the coming days. If you are showing symptoms of COVID-19 and are interested in being tested, please download the C Spire Health app or dial (601) 496-7200.
- April 28th – Clay County: West Point Civic Center, 91 Sixth Street, West Point
- April 28th – Madison County: Shirley Simmons Middle School, 820 Sulphur Springs Road, Canton
- April 29th – Pike County: Pike County Health Department, 114 E. Presley Boulevard, McComb
- April 29th – Leake County: Carthage Coliseum, 729 E. Main Street, Carthage
I have compiled a list of resources on my website for your convenience. By visiting my Coronavirus Relief page,
you can find helpful information on managing this crisis. We will continue to update the page as more information becomes available, so be sure
to check back every few days and subscribe to my newsletter to receive updates.
Mississippi Farm Corps
Mississippi State University Extension Service, in partnership with the Mississippi National Guard and the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, has
announced the launch of Mississippi Farmer and Rancher Mission (FARM) Corps. In these times of uncertainty, this initiative will link guardsmen,
service members, and veterans to employment opportunities in agriculture to help ensure those who have served our nation are employed and our state’s
agriculture sector maintains the needed workforce for our state and nation’s food security. This program comes during a time many farmers are planting
and will allow our agriculture community to find capable individuals to meet their needs. You can find out more by visiting the FARM Corps website.
Paycheck Protection Program Success Stories
Republican Whip Steve Scalise has created a page for businesses to share their success stories resulting from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Mississippi businesses received over $2.4 billion in loans before the program ran out of
funding on April 16th. The House and Senate passed legislation last week to allocate additional funds for the PPP, hospitals, and COVID-19 testing.
Following President Trump’s signing of this legislation, the Small Business Administration began processing PPP loans again this morning. If you
own or work for one of the more than 20,000 businesses that have been supported by his program, I hope you will consider uploading your success
story to Congressman Scalise’s website.
Opening Up Mississippi Again
This morning, Governor Tate Reeves’s stay at home executive order expired. In a Facebook Live announcement last week, Governor Reeves outlined the procedures around reopening the Mississippi economy. You can find answers to frequently asked questions
on the Governor’s COVID-19 website.
Governor Reeves’s Safer at Home executive order includes the following provisions:
- Encourages Mississippians to stay at home when possible
- Encourages individuals defined as “most vulnerable” by the federal task force to shelter in place
- Bans all social or non-essential gatherings of ten or more
- Allows most closed businesses to reopen under certain health and safety mandates
- Prohibits evictions
Certain businesses are to remain closed or operate at reduced levels.
- Places of amusement or entertainment will remain closed: movie theaters, bars, museums, and casinos
- Places that cannot avoid sustained person-to-person contact will remain closed: salons, gyms, clubs, spas, tattoo parlors, and barbershops
- Restaurants will continue to be limited to drive-through
- Retail stores will need to operate at 50% capacity to avoid crowds
Latest Statistics
As of Sunday, April 26th, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 957,875 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the United States, 53,922 individuals have passed away as a result of infection, and 50 states,
the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have at least one case. See below for graphs
and infographics from the Mississippi State Department of Health on the number of cases in Mississippi. In total, 63,462 [DJ1] Mississippians have
been tested for COVID-19.
[DJ1]11k is state lab, additional 51k are other tests
Sincerely
Michael Guest
Member of Congress
