TUPELO • With COVID-19 continuing to spread throughout the state, Mayor Jason Shelton on Saturday issued a directive to the Tupelo Police Department and the Tupelo Fire Department to break up a large gathering of people at an auction at the Tupelo Furniture Market.
At a recent City Council meeting, city officials said they knew the event was scheduled to take place this weekend, but thought the auction was going to be postponed. Shelton, a second-term Democrat, told the Daily Journal in a telephone interview that the order was given to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and protect the health of Tupelo citizens.
"There were people from all over Northeast Mississippi," Shelton said.
Shelton said he consulted with some Council members and other city officials before issuing the directive. Representatives from the furniture market did not immediately return a request for comment.
The directive comes after Shelton also issued an executive order on Saturday banning public events and gatherings greater than 50 people from taking place in the city.
Shelton, again, called for more direct action and guidance to come from the state level to address measures to slow the spread of the virus, but said "unfortunately that is just not happening."
"It's just an abdication of leadership at the highest level of the state of Mississippi, and we're just not going to wait any longer in the city of Tupelo," Shelton said. "There will likely be political repercussions. We have a governor who is notorious for payback. I'll take the consequences, whatever it may be, but I'm going to do everything I can to keep our citizens safe."
Shelton's order comes after a Council work session where other Council members expressed a need for increased guidance either from the governor or statewide agencies.
"We're looking for some leadership from the governor and his team because right now we've got all these municipalities making different decisions and some of them mesh and some of them don't, but we need a unified stance here," Ward 6 Councilman Lynn Bryan said. "I think we ought to do it on no uncertain terms and put the ball in their lap, or we're going to keep on having to meet like this every 24 hours and come up with a new approach."
Ward 7 Councilman Willie Jennings said he agreed with Lynn Bryan's statement, and Ward 6 Councilman Mike Bryan also said he wanted more state or federal intervention.
"I wish the state and national levels would go ahead and do a blanket policy across the country," Mike Bryan said. "With that said, we as municipality leaders, we don't need to sit around trying to wait. We've got to take care of our own in our city right now until they do what they're going to do."
A communications officials with the governor's office did not immediately have a response to Shelton's or other city leader's remarks, but said she would speak with the governor for a possible response.
As of Saturday, Mississippi has 140 total presumptive cases of the virus with cases in many Northeast Mississippi counties such as Lee, Monroe, Lafayette, Lowndes, Marshall, Union and Itawamba Counties. Lee County now stands at five cases, with four new reported on Saturday.
Shelton said he is meeting with other city and county leaders soon to discuss other restrictive measures to possibly have uniform virus safety measures in place throughout the county.
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