WCBI NEWS AT SIX - MARCH 13, 2020

WCBI NEWS AT SIX - MARCH 13, 2020

The number of coronavirus cases in mississippi has nearly doubled in just one day.

There are now six presumptive positive cases being reported..

And the state of alabama declares a statewide emergency following its second known case.

This means all students in schools k- 12 will stay home beginning march 19th.

Right now, schools will close for 2 and a half weeks.

One alabama case is confirmed from montgomery county.

The latest from jefferson county.

In mississippi, 3 cases are from forrest county.

There is one in leflore.

And , two have not been identified by counties.

Doctors with mississippi's department of health confirmed the latest cases.

Take new at 6 stinger so far there are no cases of the coronavirus in the golden triangle, ábutá columbus is feeling its effects.

Visit columbus cancels the 20-20 columbus, mississippi spring pilgrimage.

The columbus lowndes convention and visitors bureau called the move necessary, citing concerns about the spread of the virus.

Any events scheduled during the two weeks of pilgrimage, including what would have been the 30th installment of "tales from the crypt", are also canceled.

Pilgrimage was scheduled to run from march 26th through april 4th.

Take vo in monitor it will be an extended spring break for some public and private school students in our area, as concerns grow about the coronavirus.

Allie martin has more on the latest developments from tupelo and how some activities and events are going on as planned, with extra awareness and caution.

Nats school board in an emergency meeting, tupelo school board members unanimously voted to extend spring break for students for one week.

"at this moment in time we believe the uncommon result is to keep the children and all community members of tupelo safe."

By extending spring break, anyone who traveled out of the state, or country during the holiday can make sure they have no symptoms before returning for classes march 23rd.

The action from tpsd comes one day after the city of tupelo canceled all youth league sports through the end of march.

In another executive order, mayor jason shelton ordered all hotels to stop buffet style service until april.

Also, the bancorpsouth arena received word that monster jam and a concert by lynyrd skynyrd have been postponed after experts warned people to avoid large crowds.

"and we're one of the larger gathering spots in this part of the state, so we are very aware and we want to protect our staff as well, not just our guests but our staff as well."

Nats music the monthly meeting of the tupelo elvis presley fan club went on as scheduled in the fellowship hall of st james catholic church.

There was music and food, but not as many handshakes.

"it will pass like the flu does, people always need to be cautious, i have sanitizer in my truck, been doing it for years just a little bit of common sense."

Standup close everyone from elected officials to public health experts say a little common sense goes a long way.

People are encouraged to follow the guidelines from the cdc, wash hands regularly, use hand sanitizer and stay home if you are sick.

In tupelo allie martin, wcbi news take vo in monitor lee county schools are set to resume classes as scheduled on monday.

Take vo off top due to growing concerns, spring break is extended for students in the lowndes county school district... superintendent sam allison says classes are canceled for monday and tuesday... while out on spring break... allison says some students traveled out of the country and to other states where cases have been reported... district leaders will spend the next few days gathering information discussing ways to keep everyone safe and clear from any potential sickness..

"hopefully monday we'll come up with hey, this is our plan moving forward, and it may be as simple as just looking at the centers for disease control and their website.

I felt like coming off spring break we needed two days to make the best decisions for our students.

It was not so much of a scare because we don't have the cases here, but we know that could happen and start spreading very quickly, and i wanted us to be as proactive as we could."

For a complete list of plans being made by area school districts... just visit our website at wcbi dot com.... if your school isn't on that list, it has not contacted wcbi or made any official changes wipe to vo starkville and oktibbeha county leaders continue to plan for any positive covid-19 cases.

Today, ema director kristen campanella introduced a response plan to city leaders.

She's sharing information to help prevent the spread of the virus in schools and businesses.

A virtual meeting room is helping those in charge to stay healthy.

" with emergency management we have four different levels of activation in our emergency center.

So we started at a level four which is just basically monitoring the situation.

Then we go to a level one and that's all hands on deck.

Even at a level four we have created a virtual situation room for our supporting agencies that are working to prevent this and keep the communication flow through all departments.

" campanella says department heads in a virtual communication room can log onto the portal and provide information as needed.

Take vo in monitor college towns could soon feel the pinch of having students stay at home.

Stephanie poole joins us live in the studio to talk about the economic impact starkville could see from the policy.

Joey, the biggest retailers and the smallest "mom and pops" all have one thing in common: they need money to stay in business.

The loss of msu students means the loss of a álotá of customers, and that has business owners facing an uncertain future.

" we don't really know yet.

We want to remain optimistic that although campus is closed you do have a-lot of students who do live in this general area.

" barton dinkins owns two brothers smoked meats,a restaurant in the cotton district.

He says there's usually a-lot of foot traffic from students.but with majority of them possibly returning home, sales could suffer.

"the local economy, while it might slow down some hopefully we can get everyone safe and keep business rolling."

For dinkins the loss of students could also mean a loss of staff.

" we've told them if you feel safer at home please stay at home or if you need to come back and work you can."

It's the same reality for coffeehouse 929.

" i wouldn't say we are the skeleton crew but we are definitely minimizing the number of staff we have at one time.

I asked those that are students if they wanted more time off and some of them wanted more time off.

But it's okay because it'll help me level out the playing field a little bit in the schedule."

Shurden says two- thirds of her workers are students.

" in a small business it becomes increasingly difficult as time goes on trying to gage what's going to happen.

Like if we'll have a pop if going to happen and have an influx of customers and not have enough inventory."

Mayor lynn spruill is encouraging citizens to support their local businesses.

" food and beverage and sales tax is critical to our economy and to our city as we go forward and do the things that we need to do.

It's going to be painful but hopefully it will end sooner than later."

For now, owners and residents are just taking it one day at a time.

" i'm going to eat out at least every day.

I'm going to patronize as many of our restaurants that i can.

Obviously going to shop locally as necessary.

We just need to stay prudent and be calm and we need to go about our lives as normally as possible."

Take vo in monitor mayor spruill says with the possibility of a loss in sales revenue, the city will continue to monitor its budget and make adjustments if necessary.

First look stinger first look friday night: mostly cloudy with a few showers or sprinkles.

Lows in the 50s.

Winds ne 5- 15 mph.

Saturday: mostly cloudy and perhaps a few showers.

A few breaks in the clouds as the day wears on should allow highs to push back up into the 70s during the afternoon.

Winds sse 5-15 mph.

If you have plans to fly later this year, you might need a new driver's license.

Travelers need a specific license to indicate they are real id compliant.

Congress passed the law in 2005 to set standards for the issuance of identification before you board a commercial plane.

The deadline to get the identifying id is just a few months away.

It's estimated only 40 people in the country have the correct license needed to fly commercially.

The "gold star" campaign is helping remind people of the requirement.

"come october 2020 you will have to be what we consider called, real id compliant.

You will have to have a star, a gold star, if you are a mississippi resident on your driver's license in order to fly or you can fly with your passport you'll be allowed to get on the aircraft or if you are a military personnel.

You can use your military id."

Again, the deadline is october first to become real id compliant.

Take developing story stinger an inmate found dead yesterday afternoon at parchman is identified by m-d-o- c.

Foul play is not suspected in 42- year-old michael robertson's death.

Robertson was serving a 10 year sentence for a drive by shooting in union county.

He was sentenced in august of 2017.

An autopsy will be done to determine robertson's cause of death.

Stinger some area students spend part of their break helping a group that helps others..

We take a look when we come back..

Centered members of a north mississippi youth group spent part of their spring break helping a disaster relief ministry.

Every spring break, the west jackson street baptist church youth group from tupelo takes part in service projects throughout the area.

This week some members of the youth group spent time at eight days of hope's headquarters in pontotoc county.

They washed equipment and trailers that were used recently during relief operations in jackson.

Centered sot "it's important we realize how much they serve us whenever things are going bad, especially in our communities and we're given an opportunity to serve them and i think it would be a mistake to let that opportunity pass."

"i made a phone call to them and said how can we serve you, so we're out here in the warehouse trying to get things together for them so they might continue to serve in this amazing ministry they have."

Other members of the youth group made care baskets for those in hospitals and nursing homes.

Stinger wx open summary: an unsettled weather pattern will continue through next week and that means a daily chance for showers, storms, or both.

Up and down temperatures are in store for the weekend with gradual warming conditions next week.

In general, this looks like a spring weather pattern for sure.

Friday night: mostly cloudy with a few showers or sprinkles.

Lows in the 50s.

Winds ne 5- 15 mph.

Saturday: mostly cloudy and perhaps a few showers.

A few breaks in the clouds as the day wears on should allow highs to push back up into the 70s during the afternoon.

Winds sse 5-15 mph.

Saturday night: cloudy with areas of rain developing.

Lows in the upper 50s.

Sunday: areas of rain likely with some partial clearing.

Highs in the 60s.

Next week: rain and storm chances will continue each and every day.

We'll start out around 70 monday but highs may surpass 80 again by thursday and friday.

There are signs that some strong to severe storms may occur on friday but we'll just have to see how things evolve over the week.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and on the wcbi news app weather wrap stinger the changes keep coming as the sports world continues to be placed on pause the latest on mississippi athletics, next in sports... the situation that has gone from by the day, to by the hour after all the postponments and cancelations from yesterday....even more changes have been made today....starting with the ncaa and the sec the s-e-c has pushed it's potential starting date from march 30th to april 15th....teams will not be able to practice or compete in game until, at least, that date along with the impact to sec baseball and softball....ole miss has announced the grove bowl, and the fesitivies around the spring game, have been grove bowl, and the fesitivies around the spring game, have been postponed... missisisppi state has not made an official announcement on the future of the spring game while the future of ncaa spring athletics remains very uncertain...the ncaa council coordination committee has agreed to grant spring sport athletes an extra year of eligibility what remains to be determined is the future for winter sport athlete eligibility as well as logisitics in terms of scholarships and roster spots for spring athletics the njcaa following suit with the ncaa.......moving it's hopefully starting date from march 30th to april third in a statement, the njcaa says that if spring athletics are to cancel their season prior to the proposed start date...athlete will not lose a year of eligibility, similar to the ncaa northeast head baseball coach richy harrelson says the reality of putting the season on hold hasn't fully set in this is our new reality.... college athletes from our area reacting to the news that their seasons were coming to an end, or put on hold..... robert woodard summing it up perfectly.....a sad day for basketball...no march madness jordan danberry.....heartb roken, sad face..... on the baseball side, ole miss' hayden dunhurst....i have never been a part of a team so special before....we will bring a national championship to oxford and mississippi state's tanner allen...one day after sweeping the #3 team in the country, completely devastated public health and safety will always be of the upmost important.....wheth er you believe it to be an overreaction or not...it's better to be safe than to be sorry... at the same time, you're allowed to say....this stinks!

The last time we'll watch tyson carter....and likely reggie perry in the maroon and white was this past sunday...when the bulldogs defeated ole miss to earn the double bye in the tournament were the bulldgos on the bubble?

Sure.....but now they won't even get a chance the last time the only senior on hailstate hoops, jordan danberry, will lace it up for sec basketball....ends in a loss... the bulldogs were primed to reach its sixth straight ncaa tournament appearance.....now it's what could have been sec baseball was right here!

Ole miss vs lsu and mississippi state vs arkansas.....should' ve been tonight!

The rebels, off to one of its been start in school history, 16 straight wins.... mississippi state, sweeping texas tech....as tanner allen said, hitting their strides.... and mississippi state softball....one of three teams in all of college softball with 25 wins....a 14 game win streak....all of a sudden put to a halt.... it's best to be safe, but it's also ok to be sad..

Sports are our release.....our chance to get away and root for the underdog, root for the never-before-seen moment.....for the teams we grew up loving and watching sports will be back.....hopefully sooner, rather than later....and when it does, the seats will be filled, and our spirits will be full once again stay safe, that's it for sports....we'll be wcbi news at six.