UMMC Vice Chancellor: Avoid Lockdown �at all costs�

Last week, Governor Tate Reeves said that Mississippi would not be participating in a nationwide lockdown if President-elect Joe Biden were to enforce one, and now, it seems as if one of the state�s top health experts is backing that same notion.

In a Monday morning radio interview, University of Mississippi Medical Center Vice Chancellor Dr. LouAnn Woodward was asked if she believes a four to six-week lockdown would be beneficial for the United States, which is currently in the midst of its largest COVID-19 surge yet.

�If you just look at the spread, lockdowns as a way to get people to quit gathering in large groups, et cetera are helpful,� Woodward replied. �Do I think we want to go in that direction? I would avoid it at all costs. We need our schools to stay open. We need our businesses to stay open. We need the world to continue to go on.�

Currently, another lockdown does not appear to be in the works as Dr. Atul Gawande, who is considered one of Biden’s top advisor, told ABC�s This Week that there are more sensical ways to slow the spread of the virus.

�We are not in support of a nationwide lockdown,� Gawande said. �You can have targeted measures building on mask-wearing to include widespread testing, can include dialing up and down capacity restrictions, and those measures need to happen on a more localized basis.�

Governor Reeves recently extended and amended his most recent executive order, which places a mask mandate and additional social distancing guidelines on 15 Mississippi counties.

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