Mid-South Ice House to require masks
A DeSoto County business has chosen to require mask usage inside its building for the time being.
Sunday afternoon, the Mid-South Ice House ice skating rink facility told its patrons the mask requirement would go into effect on Monday, Aug. 9. In the announcement, first reported on localmemphis.com, the Mid-South Ice House said they could not afford another shutdown due to COVID-19.
The move comes with the growing numbers of COVID-19 cases in Mississippi. Updated numbers for the weekend will come Monday morning from the Mississippi State Department of Health. As of Thursday, Aug. 5, the state had 358,149 cases and 7,621 deaths since the pandemic was declared in March 2020.
Following is the statement from the Mid-South Ice House as reported on localmemphis.com.
Hello Everyone,
It saddens us to reinstate some of the Covid-19 policies and procedures back in the building, but we do not wish to have to close the rink again due to the Delta-Variant. As a business, we can’t survive another shutdown. The following protocols will be in effect tomorrow, Monday, August 9th till we announce otherwise for everyone entering the building:
• Put a mask on before entering the building and wear it at all times
• Utilize hand sanitizer when possible or needed.
• Practice safe social distancing.
• No spitting, chew tobacco, or nasal packets allowed in the rink.
• Customers who are unwilling to comply will be required to vacate the premises with no refund given.
Additional Rules & Guidelines for Hockey
(all ages, leagues, classes, sessions, etc.)
• Players must keep masks on while in the locker room.
On-ice:
1. Remove the mask immediately before putting the helmet on and store it in a bag or give the mask to the parent (youth). Put the helmet on immediately after removing the mask.
2. After exiting the ice, do not remove the helmet until the mask is retrieved.
Additional Rules & Guidelines for Freestyles/Figure Skating
• At coach’s/instructor’s discretion, a student’s mask may be removed temporarily to perform a routine that is long and/or physical in nature.
Social distancing must be practiced.
• Masks must be kept on a player bench while not in use.
• Masks must be put back on immediately after a routine is over.
Though we realize there are some who don’t want to wear a mask, there are a ton of people who want to get out of their houses and want to participate in physical activity safely. Please do not give staff a hard time regarding the usage of a mask. We do not wish to call the police over this, but they are instructed to call if they do not feel safe with a customer not complying. We hope it doesn’t come to that as we just want to focus on figure skating, hockey, public skating, curling… all the fun stuff!
We appreciate your patronage and need your support during these difficult times. We hope to see you get to stay on the ice.
