These local legislators battled COVID-19 and have warnings for Coast as cases spread
Once he got COVID-19, State Rep. Charles Busby was so tired he couldn’t stay awake.
“I probably slept 18 out of 24 hours a day for four straight days,” Busby said. “I could stay up for maybe three hours at a time, then I had to go back to bed.”
Busby is among at least 30 Mississippi legislators and 11 others to contract coronavirus during the recent legislative session at the state Capitol in Jackson.
The Pascagoula resident is also among the growing number of South Mississippi residents to contract COVID-19.
Jackson and Harrison counties have seen drastic increases in cases in the last month.
In July, Singing River Health System data shows how COVID-19 case numbers are increasing rapidly as the spread continues among household members, friends and families. Church settings also are contributing to the spread, SRHS officials said.
And reopening of schools in Mississippi is only expected to contribute to spread, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs has said.
In fact, SRHS Chief Executive Officer Lee Bond stressed Monday that new cases of coronavirus are not on the downswing.
He reported that out of 20,125 tests SRHS has performed, 2,030 were positive for the virus, bringing the seven-day average of coronavirus cases to 83 — one of the highest averages to date in Jackson County.
‘I could smell the virus’
On his way home to Pascagoula from the state capitol in Jackson, Busby wasn’t feeling bad and decided to visit his 75-year-old mother.
“I hadn’t had the second thought about being there,” he said. But just five days later, Busby knew something wasn’t right. He was sick.
And over the next four or five days, he had a slight fever, body aches and chills, and felt lethargic, but never had any of the other symptoms such as a sore throat, cough, high fever or problems breathing.
He also didn’t lose his sense of taste, but did experience what he called a “morphed sense of smell.”
“I could smell the virus,” he said. “It smelled like a musty old house where someone had smoked in it for 30 years. It was a weird smell.”
After about six days, Busby started feeling better. The symptoms leveled off and went away after one long night in bed covered in sweat.
Coast legislators hit hard
Besides Busby, at least four other Coast lawmakers contracted the virus during the legislative session, including state Rep. Hank Zuber, who — along with two of his colleagues — initially tested negative for the virus.
Zuber’s two colleagues went back and tested positive for the virus as their symptoms continued to deteriorate, but by then Zuber said he was so sick he didn’t feel like he needed to go back for a second test because “I already knew I had it.”
“I was experiencing the same extreme fatigue and body aches,” he said. “I have no doubt I had it.”
Other state legislators in South Mississippi who acknowledge testing positive for the virus include Rep. Richard Bennett of Long Beach, Rep. Greg Haney of Gulfport and Rep. Manly Barton of Moss Point.
Barton was in ICU for a period, but has since been released from the hospital. His daughter said he is still on oxygen but is on the way to recovering from the virus.
COVID-19 numbers in Jackson County
The Sun Herald took a closer look at the number of positive cases that SRHS has found through its own testing to get an idea of how much COVID-19 numbers are increasing
By far, Ocean Springs has seen the most significant increases in cases followed by Gautier, Pascagoula and Moss Point, according to SRHS stats.
Here’s a closer look from SRHS at the number of cases and percentage increases from July 1 to July 30:
- Ocean Springs — 53 to 301 cases
- Gautier — 33 to 172 cases
- Moss Point — 155 to 404 cases
- Pascagoula — 80 cases to 312 cases
- Vancleave — 36 to 148 cases
- Hurley — 0 to 13 cases
- Lucedale — 2 to 85 cases
- Escatawpa — 1 to 6 case
State representatives share advice
Busby has no doubt he caught the virus when he was at the capitol and admits he didn’t wear a mask as much as he should have to protect himself and others.
“I felt the real possibility of my mother getting the virus, but it didn’t turn out to be the case,” he said after three weeks passed without his mother falling ill.
“We did wear masks at the capitol, but did not consistently and they were available to us everywhere,” Busby said. “It hadn’t become a routine yet, and someone would catch you in the hall and talk to you face-to-face. If I didn’t have the mask with me, I didn’t go back to get it. I should have been more concerned about it, but I was not.”
He now believes wearing a mask to protect yourself and others is imperative.
“I wish I had worn the mask more consistently, and I do that now,” he said. “This virus is definitely real because it’s taken a number of lives and you certainly wouldn’t want it on your conscience that you failed to heed the advice of the experts and someone in your family gets the virus and can’t recover from it. You don’t want that on your conscience.”
Zuber said he tried to mostly wear a mask during the legislative session just as he has tried, sometime unsuccessfully, to maintain 6 feet of social distancing.
Both lawmakers are taking their personal experiences to the public to reemphasize the importance of following state and federal guidelines for COVID-19.
“The last thing we need is for the hospitals to be overburdened and there are no resources available,” Zuber said, though many hospitals are seeing record hospitalization rates due to the virus.”
Busby added: “If you are sick, stay home. If you are out, wear a mask. Be respectful.”
Examples of how COVID-19 is spreading
SRHS cited several examples of the virus spreading, based on contact tracing.
In one case, someone who wasn’t feeling well went to visit a friend, and both ended up testing positive, as did the friend’s wife, the friend’s housekeeper and her son.
The housekeeper and the friend’s wife died of the virus.
In another case, a construction crew manager caught the virus from a homeowner who got the virus along with their three children. The family stayed in quarantine and recovered, but the construction manager refused to quarantine and went on to do jobs in New Orleans and Birmingham, Alabama.
Another case involved a healthcare worker who tested positive after she flew to another state that was known hotspot for coronavirus, and she caught it there. However, the worker never spread the virus to others in her household and remained quarantined.
In yet another case, a gas station manager tested positive but continued to work and spread the virus to other employees who ended up calling in sick after the manager fell ill. In addition, the manager infected other members of their household.
COVID-19 emerging in younger patients
More COVID-19 cases are emerging in younger patients who have contracted the virus from family and friends, SRHS media relations director Sarah Duffey said.
“COVID-19 is continuing to spread in the same environments it was when the pandemic first began: households,” Duffey said. “Households and churches remain a challenge (as well as) family/friend gathering, particularly in younger patients ... and other public social gatherings.”
To help treat coronavirus patients, Duffey said, SRHS has increased the number of ICU beds from 48 to 55 since the pandemic began with the first positive case in Mississippi on March 11.
In addition, Duffey said other options are available for hospitalized patients.
“We have ICU capacity at both hospitals with the capability to ‘surge up’ even more if needed,” Duffey explained.
As for the increased number of cases found through SRHS testing, Duffey said, “SRHS has tested more than 8,000 individuals in the month of July, almost double what we tested in the entire month of June.
“While the percentage rate of (positive cases) for us is remaining fairly steady, the number/tally of positives, of course, has gone up.”
“Our system is hopeful we are reaching the peak of this second wave,” she said. “Yet, the team is continuing to meet daily to keep a close eye on developing new cases, supplies and labor in order to stay ahead of the spread in cases as this second wave begins shifting from younger outpatients to the older population who are at risk and could need hospital care.”
Duffey advised, first and foremost, that anyone who has even the slightest of symptoms should go ahead and isolate and get tested immediately.
“Adhere to the mask mandates and individual policies businesses have in place,” she said. “Be smart, stay apart; social-physical distance is the best way to prevent the spread.”
And she added, “Don’t be a close talker.”
