WCBI NEWS AT SIX - APRIL 24, 2020

WCBI NEWS AT SIX - APRIL 24, 2020

Good evening everyone... governor tate reeves says... stay home... stay safe... stay smart... the governor's "safer at home" order goes into effect monday morning.

Scott martin joins us in the studio for a closer look.

Not a lot has changed from the "shelter in place" order.

But there is one critical difference..

Healthcare professionals can begin performing medical procedures - elective surgeries, for example, that had been put on hold under the previous order.

Also, retail stores will be able to operate under specific capacity restrictions.

Here is what will remain in place: businesses like entertainment venues - movies theaters, bowling alleys- will remain closed.

Salons, gyms, and barber shops will also remain closed unless they have products that can be sold either online or curbside.

Restaurants will continue to offer drive-thru, carryout, delivery service only.

The order also bans social and non-essential gatherings of more than 10 people.

The governor stressed that this approach is a measured one- not a light switch.

Dr. dobbs and his team at the health department tells me we can safely start to shift our strict rules on all mississippians.

We can continue to be smart.

We can avoid using the sledgehammer.

And we can be more surgical in our decisions.

The data and the guidelines support this cautious, measured appropriate step towards bringing us back a littler closer to normalcy.

He is also urges everyone to continue to stay home except for essential travel.

The "safer at home" order is in effect for the next two weeks --again beginning monday at 8am.

Gfx off top the university of mississippi medical center and mississippi state department of health will have 3 local sites for mobile covid-19 testing .

Saturday - april 25th the drive-up testing willt up at fairview baptist church in columbus.

On monday april 27th, they will be conducting tests in tupelo at the bancorpsouth arena parking lot.

Testing moves to clay county on tuesday april 28th at the civic center.

Pre-screening is árequiredá.

The sites are open for áappointmentsá only.

The fastest way to get screened is through the c spire health app or you can call 601-496-7200 there are 49 covid- 19 cases in long- term care facilities in monroe county.

The mississippi state department of health says the outbreak is at two facilities in the county.

Wcbi is told diversicare of amory and river place nursing center are where the two outbreaks are located.

Eight people have died in long-term care facilities in monroe county.

Seven deaths occurred at one location.

Health officials say there are two additional cases under investigation.

Diversicare and river place administrators have not returned our calls for comment.

Wipe to vo long term care facilities across the state have strict safeguards to protect their residents and staff.

Agape senior living operates five locations in north mississippi.

All of them have new guidelines in place: including a ban on visitors, residents cannot leave the property, and tight controls on deliveries.

Currently, there are no cases of covid 19 at any agape facility .

Co owner ken long says long term care facilities are doing their best in a tough situation.

"any given year we're going to have people who will pass away due to seasonal diseases, covid 19 is a very virulent one, but we also have the flu, when the flu comes around on a bad season we lose people to that too, we're all in this learning together, the after action on this will be very interesting from national to state to local level, to figure out what we did well, what we could do better and how we could handle it better next time and there will be a next time."

Long recently put out a call for personal protection equipment on facebook.

Response was so overwhelming, that long has been able to donate ppe to other facilities.

The shelter in place orders have had a big impact on facilities that help people overcome drug and alcohol addiction.

Wcbi's allie martin tells us about a monroe county ministry that was forced to suspend its treatment program to keep residents and the public safe.

Things are unusually quiet at the headquarters of broken lives ministry.

Before the middle of march, there were 90 men living on site.

Residents at the faith based program attend daily bible studies and are required to find a job.

They are taken to and from work by ministry staff everyday.

But once concerns about the coronavirus began to increase, tough decisions had to be made that would impact the men and the ministry.

"if they had a place to go , go back home, they could go home, whoever they were living with, was ok, if not they could stay here, but would be quarantined."

For shane scribner and ministry board members, the potential for a resident to contract the virus while on a job site, and bring covid 19 back into the facility, was too much of a risk.

Thirteen men are living at the ministry, taking part in bible studies and church services, with no visitors or guests from the outside.

Pastor gary dawson has helped lead bible studies and worship services, and has also kept in touch with many of those who moved out temporarily.

"i've been hearing from them, text me, had two or three come by the house, they miss it and they are eager when we open back up, to come back in and finish the program."

Pastor dawson says the ministry will be ready to pick up where it left off, when the time is right.

"we are just going to keep loving people, we got an epidemic of sorts with drug addiction, there 's more people die from drug addiction than with coronavirus every year.

We are in an industry to help people and we have a great gospel and great savior to share with people."

In nettleton, allie martin, wcbi news more than 7 thousand men have gone through the program at broken lives ministry .

First look stinger first look friday night: turning mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and storms. no severe weather is expected.

Lows in the upper 50s.

Saturday: a mix of clouds and sun.

Some showers are possible, especially across our northern counties through early afternoon.

Breezy wsw winds 10-25 mph.

Highs in the low to mid 70s.

Saturday night: mainly clear and work will begin monday at the yokohama tire plant in west point.

The plant temporarily closed as a precaution because of the covid-19 pandemic.

A yokohama spokesman says when workers return monday, there will be several new safety procedures several new safety procedures in place based on the latest guidelines from the cdc and local authorities.

The company is taking similar preventative measures at all yokohama facilities.

The west point plant makes commercial truck tires.

Take developing story stinger centred up the palmer home for children campus in columbus will be low-to-moderate income housing.

The columbus community housing development organization purchased the property.

Plans call for renters to occupy duplex and apartment units on the campus.

The palmer school could be converted back into a rental house or schooling for headstart.

There are also plans for developing two or three-bedroom houses.

Palmer home moved its residential campus to hernando.

There are administrative offices in columbus.

The organization was founded in columbus back in 1895.

Wipe to vo demolition work is coming to a close on two mississippi university for women buildings.

Taylor and keirn halls are down.

Now, crews are working to clear the site of debris and other work.

Plans call for a new culinary arts institute at that location.

There are no timelines set for the completion of the construction project.

Stinger coronavirus has curtailed campus activity at schools - but districts are already making lesson plans for next year.

We take a look when schoolwork is still at home, but that's not stopping state leaders from looking towards the future.

Governor tate reeves wants school districts to submit plans for the upcoming school year, including how to get students up to speed after disruptions caused by covid-19.

Our quentin smith speaks with a superintendent about his plans going forward.

The school year on campus ended abruptly for school districts everywhere, including here in louisville.

Now district leaders are putting a plan together to make up for any setbacks and deficiency gaps students may have.

Nat when students return to class for the upcoming school year, educators worry students will have forgotten some of the material they learned before the coronavirus outbreak.

It's a concern louisville school district superintendent dr. randy grierson is tackling head-on.

" we've got to keep in mind that was cool starts that's going to be five months the kids did not have instruction.

Knowing that, we've got to half an assessment ready to give kids and see where are they.

We can't assume where they are, we have to know where they are."

His district, just like all others in the state, now has to present a plan on how to overcome this issue... grierson says his district already has a few ideas in mind... " we're going to have some kind of program this summer, we've talked about tentative dates for the boot camp targeting a population of kids.

Of course, it won't be for everybody to come, but it will be targeted towards the kids that needed more than others to make sure that they have room first.

We have that in place, and of course, to go along with that we are going to do an afterschool program all year long."

Grierson says putting the plan together is the easy part... getting the students to buy in... that's where things can become challenging.

"if you set a plan it's not going to be effective, it's just going to give you a starting point.

We've got to make sure it's monitored as we go forward to make sure that it's the best plan and if that is the best plan.

If you've got to tweak that plan every single week, or whatever you've got to do, you've got to tweak it to make sure it fits what your expectations are."

Something else that will help is the more than 160 million dollars the state received from the cares act.

While grierson says he doesn't know how much will be allocated towards his school district, he says they plan to use their share for summer and after school programs. " you can't really focus on distance learning when you have kids that don't have access to internet, or where they live they don't have cell phone service, so it's hard to require that when that's not equitable for every student.

We have to do a great job of making sure that we put something in place for those kids that don't, whether by sending packets home once we get started back, or having bus routes run kids home after their afterschool tutorials, just putting something in place that addresses the needs of every student.

That's what that money is there for, and that's when we are going to use it for."

All school districts must submit the plans to the state board of education by june first.

Reporting in louisville.

Quentin smith.

Wcbi news.

To read the full executive order signed by the governor.

Just visit our website at wx open friday night: turning mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and storms. no severe weather is expected.

Lows in the upper 50s.

Saturday: a mix of clouds and sun.

Some showers are possible, especially across our northern counties through early afternoon.

Breezy wsw winds 10-25 mph.

Highs in the low to mid 70s.

Saturday night: mainly clear and quiet.

Lows in the upper 40s.

Sunday: mostly sunny and pleasant.

Highs in the upper 60s to low 70s.

Sunday night: mostly clear.

Cool.

Lows in the mid 40s.

Monday: partly cloudy.

Highs in the mid 70s.

Tuesday: partly cloudy during the day with the chance of evening showers and storms. highs in the upper 70s to around 80.

Wednesday: morning rain and storms. partly cloudy during the afternoon.

Highs in the upper 70s.

Thursday: bright sunshine.

Highs in the mid 70s.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app friday night: turning mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and storms. no severe weather is expected.

Lows in the upper 50s.

Saturday: a mix of clouds and sun.

Some showers are possible, especially across our northern counties through early afternoon.

Breezy wsw winds 10-25 mph.

Highs in the low to mid 70s.

Saturday night: mainly clear and quiet.

Lows in the upper 40s.

Sunday: mostly sunny and pleasant.

Highs in the upper 60s to low 70s.

Sunday night: mostly clear.

Cool.

Lows in the mid 40s.

Stinger missisisppi state's willie gay continues to wait to hear his name called in the n-f-l draft...we check-in on the watch party happening in starkville, next in sports spx rounds two and three of the nfl draft have begun over on espn according to mock drafts, tonights the night to start seeing some bulldogs officially make the move from state to sundays this is the mock draft from cbs sports... right now -- yesterday, cbs was predcition that linebacker willie gay would come off the board in round 3 to the bengals // now, cbs predicts gay will be picked up by the rams in the second round as the 57th overall pick interestingly enough, cbs originally projected cornerback cam dantzler would be picked up by the rams in the second round however, now dantzler is projected to go to the bills in round three as the 82nd overall pick that's the best part about projections...they keep us on our toes nobody knows what's really going to happen...we have to wait and see... that's exactly what starkville native willie gay is doing...waiting around and hoping to get the call that he is going to the n-f-l..this is live from gay's draft party in starkville should gay be selected as the 25th pick in the second round he will officially be the first bulldog this season to come off the board and whomever should select him will be getting quite the athlete although he missed eight games due to ncaa violations, gay posted a 4.46 40 yard dash and a 39.5 vertical impressing scouts at the combine in february our tom eble caught up with gay this evening as he waits for his name to be called..

"feeling good, man.

I'm ready.

I'm full of excitement.

God is good and is here today ready to see where i end up.

I'm ready.

I actually woke up at 4 am.

I went to bed but i woke up early like oh, it's draft time.

I was excited."

Hailstate hoops' newest coach nikki mccray-penson has officially finalized her staff and she's sticking to what she knows or rather, who she knows m-s-u athletics announcing the additions of keith freeman, brittany young, ashley morris and scepter brownlee to the finalized staff all three served under mccray- penson at her former head coaching job with old dominion freeman will serve as the associate head coach, young is named an assistant coach, also in charge of recruiting brownlee also named as an assitant coach and morris will serve as the director of operations mccray-penson will retain maryann baker and abby hunt from vic schaefer's previous bulldog staff in a statement, mccray-penson saying that "you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with," said mccray- penson.

"i can't think of a better group to work alongside as we start this next chapter.

Not only are they talented but they are even better people.

Each member of our staff has a relentless work ethic.

They have a love and passion for coaching young people and for finding a way to win."

For information on the new staffers you can visit our website at wcbi.com ole miss softball is coachless no more nearly four months after former head coach mike smith's resignation // ole miss athletics announcing that minnesota's jamie trachsel will lead the rebels trachsel takes over as the sixth head coach of the rebels after spending three years at the helm of the gophers in her first season in minnesota, trachsel finished with 41 wins and a big ten title trachsel also led the gophers to the program's first ever appearance in the women's college world series in 2019