Mississippi still hasn’t seen the worst of COVID-19, UMMC official warns
Mississippi isn’t quite “on the other side” of the COVID-19 pandemic, the vice chancellor for the University of Mississippi Medical Center warned Monday.
In a tweet, Dr. LouAnn Woodward said the coronavirus has yet to peak in the state.
“The numbers of COVID-19 positive patients, hospitalizations, and deaths are increasing,” Woodward wrote in a Twitter post accompanied by visual data from the state’s Department of Health. “We have not hit our peak. We are not on the other side of this. Stay safe, Mississippi!”
As of Monday morning, UMMC reported 54 coronavirus-positive patients and 16 persons under investigation (PUIs) for the highly contagious virus. In all, the Level 1 medical center has conducted over 5,250 COVID-19 tests with 643 returning positive results, according to the infographic shared by Woodard.
The latest data from the Mississippi State Department of Health shows 327 new cases across the state, the second-highest number of new cases thus far, and 7 more deaths, McClatchy News reported. Overall, more than 7,800 residents have been infected with the virus, with the state reporting 310 deaths — the majority of which have been African-American residents, data show.
Woodard’s warning comes less than a week after COVID-19 hospitalizations in Mississippi reached an all-time high, reporting close to 430 coronavirus patients in hospital beds, according to local station WAPT. With cases still on the rise, State Health Officer Thomas E. Dobbs said now isn’t the time for Mississippians to “let our guards down.”
“We all need to be careful,” Dobbs told the news station last week. “We’re all ready to go back to church, I get that. I am too ... but just be patient. This isn’t going to last forever. Let’s not be too anxious when we can make some simple choices that will protect not just you, but remember your family.”
Gov. Tate Reeves recently replaced the state’s shelter-in-place order with a “Safer-at-Home” order urging residents to remain home, except for essential travel. To some folks’ dismay, Reeves has also taken steps to reopen the state’s economy, allowing businesses once shuttered by the coronavirus to turn on the welcome sign for customers, McClatchy News reported.
Those plans were hampered, however, after the state saw its biggest single-day increase in coronavirus cases on May 1, reporting nearly 400 new cases and 20 deaths, according to McClatchy News.
“Things can change quickly. We have to stay flexible,” Reeves said during a news conference Friday. “Today, I was prepared to announce further reopenings. That was the plan and I was excited to get more of our people back to work. This was a large enough change to make me take a step back … and I have come to the conclusion that I must hold on for now.”
The governor faced criticism for his plans to reopen the state without meeting guidelines issued by the White House, which advises states to hold off on reopening until it sees a two-week “downward trajectory” in COVID-19 cases. Reeves defended the move Sunday.
“You have to understand that Mississippi is different than New York and New Jersey,” he told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace. “Sometimes the models are just different for different states. ... We believe that particular gating criteria just doesn’t work in states like ours.”
“We have never had more than 300 cases in any one day,” he added, “with the exception of Friday in that data dump.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 3:04 PM.