shirley sessions the mayor of tybee island near savannah. pleasure to have you on, welcome. >> pleasure to be here. >> over this weekend, tybee island saw its busiest beach day of the year so far. were you happy with what you saw and were people social distancing? >> saturday was the busiest day. we saw over 6,000 cars come on to the island and previous numbers were maybe 3,000, so saturday was very busy, and there was not a lot of social distancing. there were people who continued to go through the sand dunes, rather than using the designated areas that tybee has set up for entrance. we still have our crossovers closed because they don't allow safe spacing, 6 feet spacing. so they're closed and people still want to cross over those. so what we're going to do this week is we're going to revisit what we can do to keep people safe. we still -- >> what can you do, mayor sessions? what can you do to force people to sit x number of feet away from each other? >> there's really nothing that we can do. i mean, as the governor asked, he wanted people

. >>> let's head south from marietta to tybee island. it's a beach community near savannah and it relies heavily on tourism. tybee island's mayor, shirley sessions, has been a vocal critic of the governor to reopen. she joins us now. >> thank you, joshua. >> you were on the job as mayor for just a few months when this crisis began. what is your number one biggest concern about governor kemp's order to start reopening businesses? >> i think like everybody else, my main concern is not getting local government involved because we know our community more than anyone else. so not having our input, not having a team spirit of working together has been the most troublesome. when he opened our beaches after we had closed them, that created a time of concern. it still is a big concern. today is a beautiful day on tybee, although the governor said you can only walk or run on the beach, we have -- we see people who are -- who are bringing chairs, who are bringing tentses, and, unfortunately, there is not enough department of natural resources out t

can they in tybee island? >> thank you for asking me to be here. t have bowling alleys or some of the things the governor has designated could be open. we do have have a lot of restaurants and we have a beautiful beach. the governor opened the beach after we closed it on march 20th. so the beach has been opened by the governor only for walking and running purposes, only exercise. so the other businesses, our restaurants, most of our restaurants continue to offer takeout and delivery only. because of the guidelines and rules and restrictions that were set forth yesterday, i think everyone is trying to find out how to navigate those rules and restrictions and enforcibility of the rules that were put in place. >> i know your concerns about those on the beach, those may be the parameters, but you've seen a lot of people bring beach chairs, et cetera, to the beach, and you've seen people come into tybee with tags on their license plates from out of the areas or hot spots. so it seems like you're pretty concerned. >> we do, our residents are concerned. ou

i want everyone to know the city of tybee island has not opened the beaches. governor has mandated that the beaches in georgia be opened. >> reporter: she also said the city put up barricades that haven't been taken down yet and won't be able to do that until tomorrow. that might be one reason relatively fewer people were seen on the beach this weekend. the governor through a spokesperson sent, throughout this process governor kemp has been guided by recommendations of dr. kathleen toomey in the private officials and the government's office providing resources to patrol the area. wee we've reached out to businesses, shut down by the city before, now rescinded by the governor. there's a mixed react about that. some have already relisted their properties advertising that the beaches are open and applauding the governor, because they say families need a place to escape. quarantine somewhere besides they're homes. other vacation property owner and managers are telling me that they didn't even know that this was rescinded. now that they found out they feel that it'

for years, customers at tybee island, georgia's sand bar marked their visit by leaving money on the walls. now with the bar closed, owner jennifer knox worried about her employees. so knox took the bills down and paid it forward to her people. the wall hall came to $3,714. it turns out the bar is a gold mine and a liveline for its workers. coming up next, the images we cannot forget as americans come cannot forget as americans come together in this time of cri (v we just went stumbling past? here we are dancing in the rumbling dark so come a little closer give me something to grasp give me your beautiful, crumbling heart we're working every dread day that is given us feeling like the person people meet really isn't us like we're going to buckle underneath the trouble like any minute now the struggle's going to finish us and then we smile at all our friends hen i'm weak andat sr face is sch to beun i love people's faces. ♪ there will be parties and family gatherings. there will be parades and sporting events and concerts. to help our communities when they come back together, respond to the

would be next in line, maybe 20 minutes from now, farther to the south midway island, skidaway, tybee islandground. i'm seeing debris in the air and rotation enough in the storms that i need you to be in your safe place right now. there you see charleston, there you see the pink box, that's where the tornado is on the ground. by 9:00 we move you ahead, by 10:00 we take you farther to the north. there will be significant wind in new york city, boston as well. we could see gusts here 60 to 70 miles per hour. that will bring down trees. if you see a storm coming at you right now, think of it like there's a tornado, because there will be winds of 70 to 80 miles per hour in some of the storms, that's almost an ef1 tornado, if it hits your house wrong. this is a big deal still at this hour, john. >> chad myers for us, an active situation. please heed these warnings, if you are in these zones as the storm moves east. >> the state of mississippi is reporting 11 fatalities after the tornado outbreak. joining us is mallory white, director of external affairs and mississippi emergency management. mallo

. >> so help explain to our viewers what's going on here, because the mayor of tybee island, a popularosed the beaches to help stop the spread. the governor came around to a statewide stay-at-home order and reopened the beaches there. why overrule local officials on that, when the data has shown states that have been forward-leaning on this, washington state, california, the vice president singled them out yesterday, when the data has shown those stay-at-home orders work? >> it's important to understand the beaches are not open for spring breaker, they're open for exercising. over the weekend we saw footage from state patrol helicopters where thousands of folks or hundreds of folks are walking around way spaced out, practicing social distancing. it would be like in my neighborhood in front of my house shutting down my sidewalk. folks are getting exercise in, getting sunshine, headed back to their house and either telecommuting or watching church online, folks are getting back to the new normal. >> the mayor, though, is saying they're seeing cars from out of state, new york, new jersey,

joining me now is jennifer knox, orner of the sandbar in tybee island georgia. great to see you.l, your reaction to all of the reaction? >> overwhelming. overwhelmed. you have to support your local watering hole, we are all in this together. >> harris: this is personal for you, too, i understand. because you are a bartender at that very popular establishment, and then he bought it. when you buy it, you own it, and you feel -- because we talked right before this during the commercial break, you feel personally responsible for the musicians and the employees. >> these are my people. i got to do whatever it takes to keep them okay. >> harris: what has been some of the feedback from your actual musicians and employees? >> i mean, this has been a game changer. with the dollars on the walls and the donations that are coming in, my people can eat, pay their rent. it's been a complete game changer and i am so happy to help. >> harris: we are showing some pictures of the cash that you took down. what made you do this? did you just wake up one morning and say, "i'm going down to the bar an

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