‘We’re seeing women bury their children’ as COVID hospitalizations break records in MS
“It’s bad out there,” is how Coast residents are describing the current state of the pandemic, as Mississippi health department reported on Wednesday another 4,085 new cases and 36 more deaths.
The six counties of South Mississippi had 824 of those new cases and three more deaths.
Just since Aug. 1, South Mississippi has 62 additional deaths from the coronavirus, and 360 people have died in just over two weeks across the state.
“We all know delta is different,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Tuesday. “Instead of women burying their parents, we’re seeing women bury their children.”
At a virtual meeting last week with Coast business leaders, Dobbs and Singing River Health System Lee Bond shared information about pregnant women and babies who died of COVID-19, and of an unvaccinated man who died after not following his mother’s pleas to get vaccinated.
New record for MS hospitalizations
For three days — from Aug. 13-15 — it appeared the number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 and the number of people in ICUs and on ventilators across the state were leveling off. Health officials have been promoting the monoclonal antibodies treatment to help keep more people with COVID from ending up in the hospital.
But the health department’s latest graph showed it was just a brief pause before another climb.
On Tuesday, hospitalizations with COVID-19 hit a record of 1,623 across Mississippi, and those in ICU set another record at 447.
The number of patients on ventilators also hit a record 316. Many of those will never leave the hospital, Dobbs said.
Child cases increasing
Mississippi reports cases and deaths from the coronavirus by age groups for comparison, but aren’t an even split by years.
For instance, those age 25-39 have more than 90,000 positive cases — the most of any age group — and 180 deaths. That category covers 15 years, while the 40-49 age group spans 10 years and the 65+ age group is more than 30 years.
The numbers show the coronavirus isn’t just targeting “old people.” There have been 59,000 positive tests and 6 deaths in Mississippi among ages 17 and younger.
The health department reports that cases among ages 5-17 were just 2% of total cases in March 2020, when the pandemic began, and spiked to 18% of total cases by July 2021.
What the numbers show
Here is information reported by the Mississippi Health Department:
▪ Mississippi now has 396,394 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, and 336,849 presumed recoveries.
▪ South Mississippi has had 63,001 people test positive for the coronavirus.
▪ For the two weeks from July 27 to Aug. 9, Stone County had 406 new cases, an 18% increase and the second highest in the state with 2,214 new cases per 100,000.
▪ Stone County has had only one new death since Aug. 1.
▪ Harrison and Jackson counties each have had 20 deaths since Aug. 1.
▪ Harrison County has the highest rate of fully vaccinated residents in South Mississippi at 38%, followed closely by Jackson and Stone counties with 37%.
▪ Hancock County has the lowest fully vaccination rate in South Mississippi at 30%. Pearl County’s rate is 31% and George County is 32%.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 11:23 AM.
