City of Columbus puts curfew in place due to coronavirus concerns

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- A curfew is now in effect for the city of Columbus in light of coronavirus concerns.

From 10 p.m. until 6 a.m., no one can be out unless it’s for essential travel, and they must be over the age of 18.

The curfew went into effect over the weekend.

However, there have been some questions from residents about the provisions, particularly what constitutes essential travel.

Police Chief Fred Shelton said traveling to work, to pick up food, to buy groceries, etc. are considered essential travel.

The chief said the new curfew is in place to prevent large gatherings late at night.

If anyone is caught violating curfew rules can be fine $1,000 and spend up to 90 days in jail.

“Our officers are going to use common sense,” said Chief Shelton. “We’re going to look at it and we’re going to evaluate the situation. If you have an essential need to go somewhere, we’re not going to stop you. If you say, ‘Oh I was on my way up here to the store to get some milk for my baby or to get some popcorn to watch TV’, that’s fine, but if you’re out here saying, ‘Oh I just wanted to see what was going on’, or you didn’t have a legitimate reason to be out, then, of course, we’re going to take action.”

Shelton said they’ve had two instances of people calling and making false claims about someone having the coronavirus.

If caught doing this, the chief said a person can be charged with giving a false police report.

He encourages people to make sure their information is coming from a credible source such as the Centers for Disease Control.

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