Amidst rising numbers of COVID-19 cases - particularly the Delta variant - officials from the City of Purvis are limiting the amount of visitors to Purvis City Hall to help avoid further spread of the virus.
The doors of the building will be locked for the immediate future, but residents can still pay bills at the drop-off slot outside.
“We’re open; we’re just not going to let people go in and out,” Mayor Roger Herrin said. “They can knock on the door, in other words.
“With COVID getting back rampant again, and everybody’s got little kids, (this is the safe thing to do). Sometimes people just walk in (city hall) and sit there and want to visit, so this is just a precaution. We’ll open the door and do business as usual; we just don’t want 10 or 12 people in there at a time."
The closed-door policy - which was also implemented last year when COVID first hit - will remain in place for the near future while officials monitor number of cases. As of August 2, Lamar County had seen a total of 7,176 positive cases, with 89 deaths.
One-hundred and sixty-five new cases were reported in the county that day.
“We’ve got one policeman that’s out with it, and he can’t seem to shake the fever part of it,” Herrin said. “He’s not in the hospital, but he’s still got a 101 fever.
“(Another one of our employees), his stepdaughter’s got it, and he’s been around her, so he’s kind of quarantined himself. It’s here and there, and everybody needs to be careful.”
Meetings of the Purvis Board of Aldermen, which are held the first Tuesday of every month at city hall, are still open to the public. However, visitors to the meetings will be required to wear masks inside the building.
Purvis City Hall can be reached by phone at (601) 794-2472.
