Open up that economy!

Tate Reeves, the Governor of Mississippi, was one of the last to issue shelter in place orders, and to close the Gulf Coast beaches. Luckily, he closed them for the traditional weekend where college hoards, like they did in Florida, flock to the beaches and crowd massive numbers of people into very tight spaces. We were pleased that folk actually followed the guidance. However, this weekend, Governor Reeves relaxed the orders and allowed the beaches to reopen. Sights we hadn't seen in 3 weeks were common.

Our first clue that this had happened was on our normal morning beach path walk. We saw they day they had removed all the pink trash cans from the beach, and slapped the bright red “Beach Closed” stickers on much of the signage along the beach. On our walk we saw that the pink trash cans were back, the bright red stickers were gone, and the police tape has been removed from the public restroom facilities perched periodically along the beach.

Thankfully, Governor Reeves did not issue orders to return to business as usual. While he opened the beaches, he left the shelter in place order in place, and did not open up restaurant dining rooms as we had expected. He did, however, allow businesses that rely on the beach tourism to reopen. Not our favorite decision, but at least he didn’t just completely reopen the economy.

Talk to you soon.