Mississippi health dept. issues new COVID guidelines on masks, hospitals as delta rages
The Mississippi State Department of Health released updated COVID-19 guidance on Wednesday as virus cases spiral to the highest single-day report in six months.
Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s lead, MSDH now suggests that everyone, including the fully vaccinated, wear masks indoors.
The new guidance also recommends that all state hospitals begin once again rotating new critical care patients between hospitals and delay elective surgeries such as colonoscopies and orthopedic procedures.
Vaccinations will still be the best way for Mississippians to stay healthy, said state medical professionals at a press conference on Wednesday, but the updated guidance provides additional tools against transmission.
School guidance will likely be updated soon to align with CDC recommendations that all students, teachers, staff and visitors wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
“We’re in a bit of a tight spot with our increases and our health care pressure that we’re seeing,” State Epidemiologist Paul Byers said at the press conference.
“We are recommending masking in public indoor settings, we’re going to be recommending masking in school settings, indoors for all folks, regardless of vaccination status. If you’re infected, if you find out you’re infected, isolate. Do your part to limit spreading it to other folks.”
The health department will not release any vaccine or mask mandates, State Medical Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said during the press conference. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on Tuesday told the AP that he does not plan to issue a mask mandate for schools despite COVID increases ahead of the start of the in-person school year.
“We do not pursue broad mandates,” Dobbs said.
The new recommendations come as South Mississippi saw 422 new cases on Wednesday with one new death. Ninety-three percent of all COVID samples in Mississippi are the highly infectious delta variant, Dobbs said on Wednesday. Delta spreads twice as easily compared to other COVID strains.
“If you have COVID, you likely have the delta variant,” Byers said. “That’s what’s circulating, that’s what’s causing the illness.”
The first piece of updated guidance was released by MSDH to reduce virus transmission especially in settings like faith-based gatherings, funerals, social events, and long-term care facilitates.
- Everyone (including those who are fully vaccinated) wear a mask in public indoor settings.
- If you are exposed to someone with COVID-19, you should get tested 3-5 days following exposure. If you are not fully vaccinated, you should quarantine for at least 10 days after exposure (fully vaccinated persons do not have to quarantine after exposure, but should get tested).
These recommendations join previous guidance:
- Get a COVID-19 vaccination if eligible.
- After testing positive for COVID-19, even if fully vaccinated, isolate for at least 10 days from the beginning of symptoms or from the test date.
- Those 65 or older or those with a chronic medical condition should avoid all indoor mass gatherings, even if vaccinated.
To all statewide health care systems, the MSDH did mandate on Wednesday all licensed hospitals in Mississippi participate in the COVID-19 System of Care Plan, effective Thursday, July 29 through Aug. 15.
“As Mississippi has reached a point where hospitals can no longer accommodate acute clinical demands, Mississippi ESF-8 will enact a COVID-19 rotation to ensure the proper assignment of patients to the appropriate hospital,” the mandate states.
- “Transfers for critical care services that cannot be accommodated by the normal referral processes will be sent through a central transfer system, Mississippi Med-Com.
- All transfers requiring ICU level care (both COVID and non-COVID) must be reported to Med-Com.
- When no beds are available, Med-Com will direct patients to hospital destinations on a rotating basis based on geography and resource availability.
- Mississippi Med-Com will monitor hospital capacity and capability related to providing care to patients with COVID-19.
- Any refusal or deviation from the COVID-19 System of Care will be investigated by MSDH.”
And to accommodate for the recent surge in hospitalizations around the state, hospitals are required to delay all low-level, elective surgeries from Aug. 1 through Aug. 15.
The delayed surgeries are those like endoscopies, carpal tunnel release, colonoscopy, cataracts, low-risk cancer, orthopedic, non-urgent spine and elective angioplasty, which require overnight hospitalizations.
Any urgent low-risk cancer, orthopedic, non-urgent spine and elective angioplasty surgery that would require overnight hospitalization “should have a compelling justification documented in the medical record.”
This project is supported by Journalism and Public Information Fund, a Fund of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
