MS reports nearly 8,000 new COVID cases as ‘unbridled spread’ hits Coast hard
Mississippi is reporting 7,839 more cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, a new record in what one doctor refers to as “unbridled spread” of COVID-19 in the state.
This is the fourth record for new COVID cases in the past week. The state’s health department also reported 52 new deaths Monday.
Gov. Tate Reeves, who is refusing mask mandates or lockdowns, has conceded that hospitalizations are surpassing previous peaks with spread of the highly contagious delta variant at a time when the state is short about 2,000 nurses and hospitals are full.
Dr. Eric Topal, a California cardiologist and executive vice president of nonprofit Scripps Research, a biomedical research institute in California, tweeted Sunday:
“Having already surpassed its pandemic peak of cases and hospitalizations, Mississippi’s current trajectory is vertical — unbridled spread.
“The state’s leadership has no effective plan to deal with it. This is America.”
The Mississippi State Department of Health has now reported a total of 388,986 COVID cases and 7,813 deaths, including the death Saturday of an eighth-grade student in Raleigh, Mississippi, hours after diagnosis, and former Pascagoula Councilman Joe Abston on Sunday night.
The councilman’s wife, Missy Abston, made a video published Friday night, as her husband deteriorated, that urges Mississippians to get the vaccine, said Sarah Duffey, media relations director at Singing River Health System.
Abston’s wife and children got COVID vaccines at drive-thru vaccine events in the spring, but Abston was unvaccinated, as are 97% of Mississippians who are hospitalized.
“He thought he was perfectly healthy, so he decided he was going to wait,” Duffey said. “He told her, ‘I’m so sorry I didn’t get the vaccine, please tell my friends and co-workers and anyone you can to get the vaccine because I was wrong.’”
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, which is tracking COVID nationwide, reports a seven-day average of almost 2,359 cases a day and a test-positivity rate on Sunday in Mississippi of 53%.
Any number above 5% indicates a high number of COVID infections. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs has said Mississippians can count on one of two things: They will be vaccinated or they will get COVID-19.
While COVID vaccines have proven safe and effective, the virus can lead to serious and long-term health consequences. About 2% of Mississippians who contract COVID-19 will die, statistics show.
Hospitals swamped with COVID patients
Abston was one of two 51-year-olds who died Sunday at Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula.
“We are seeing younger people in our ICUs right now that aren’t doing very well,” Duffey said. “They’re getting younger and younger.”
Singing River has patients waiting for intensive care beds and opened a second COVID ICU at Ocean Springs Hospital over the weekend. Duffey said the Pascagoula hospital also is working to open a second COVID-19 ICU unit.
Singing River has requested assistance from the state to staff the ICU beds and offer monoclonal antibody treatment at its infusion clinics in Gulfport and Pascagoula.
Hospitals are operating under an extended state of emergency amid the crisis, with elective procedures canceled and the state transferring patients to hospitals with available beds based on the level of care needed.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center, a state hospital that runs the crisis network, on Sunday opened a second field hospital, this one operated by the Rev. Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse. Gov. Tate Reeves said in a tweet Monday morning that the state officially requested the assistance Wednesday and thanked the organization for responding so quickly.
UMMC opened its first 50-bed field hospital Friday with support from federal workers sent through the Stafford Act, a law that provides government resources during disasters, including hurricanes.
Monoclonal antibody treatment urged for COVID
Dobbs is urging those who fall ill with COVID to seek monoclonal antibody treatment, which could keep them out of the hospital but needs to be administered within 10 days of symptom onset.
The shot or infusion is effective at preventing hospitalization and improves survival rates by producing antibodies that attack COVID.
The treatment is being offered by eligible health care providers at 40 centers around the state and at some private clinics. Both Memorial Hospital and Singing River Health System are offering the treatment in South Mississippi.
Residents 12 or older are eligible if they have chronic health conditions, including obesity and many other ailments, compromised immune systems or are at greater risk of illness because of their race or ethnicity.
South MS new COVID cases
South Mississippi lost nine residents to COVID-19 over the weekend, with 5 deaths reported in Pearl River County, two in Jackson County and two in George County. Total deaths in South Mississippi stand at 960.
New cases in Harrison and Jackson County are exceeding statewide numbers for the spring, before the delta variant took hold.
New cases reported Monday for the weekend and total cases for South Mississippi are listed below:
- George: 126 new cases, 3,372 total
- Hancock: 251 new cases, 5,269 total
- Harrison: 869 new cases; 25,279 total
- Jackson: 524 new cases; 18,385 total
- Pearl River: 209 new cases, 6,330 total
- Stone: 57 new cases, 2,788 total
This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 10:33 AM.
