A baby has died of COVID-19 in Mississippi, the 7th child death so far in the state
A seventh child has died of COVID-19 in Mississippi, state health officials said at a press conference Wednesday.
The child was under a year old, State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said. Children under 12 are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
“It’s been a rough month and a half,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said.
The delta variant surge, he added, has “caused a lot of unnecessary deaths.”
The state’s sixth pediatric death was reported only two weeks earlier. Thirteen-year-old Mkayla Robinson of Smith County was the state’s fifth child to die of COVID-19 when she passed away in mid-August.
Of the six other children who have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, three were ages 11-17, one was age 6-10, and two were ages 1-5.
About 76,000 children in Mississippi have tested positive for COVID-19 since early 2020.
Delta surge brings more pediatric cases
Statewide, children ages 5-17 now have the second-highest share of cases of any age group, comprising about 22% of all cases, just below people in the 25-39 age group. Cases among children ages 0-4 have also risen to over 4% of all cases.
Weekly snapshots for each county published by the state health department show the rise in pediatric cases in Coast counties. For the week ending Aug. 28, in each of the six counties of south Mississippi, more cases were reported among children ages 0-17 than any other age group.
In Harrison County, for example, kids comprised about 28% of the 1,493 cases for the week of Aug. 21-28.
The growing number of COVID-19 cases and deaths among children has increased stress and anxiety for teachers and families as kids return to school.
One teacher in Jackson County told the Sun Herald last month that last year, any students who tested positive for COVID-19 were asymptomatic. This year, she’s seen young kids coming to school looking sick before they test positive.
Dr. Andrea Logan, a pediatrician at Singing River, said in August that she’s seen the effects of the delta variant in her own practice as more kids test positive and show symptoms, though most pediatric cases are still mild. The latest surge has caused her to strengthen her recommendation on the vaccine for kids ages 12 and older.
“I would just urge, maybe even beg their parents to take them to get them vaccinated,” she said.
Signs for optimism
Over 1,000 deaths were recorded due to COVID-19 in August in Mississippi, Byers said.
Dobbs noted that daily deaths remain high and the state is still logging thousands of cases most days.
“We’re still in the thick of the delta surge,” he said.
But there are signs for optimism.
“We are starting to see an inflection point with somewhat of a decline in hospitalizations,” he said.
Byers said there are also “encouraging signs” in schools. Only about 5% of the schools that reported COVID-19 cases to the health department last week said they had had to go virtual or close physical buildings because of cases, compared to 10% earlier in the school year.
By Aug. 20, most Coast districts reported that 4% or more of their student bodies had tested positive for COVID-19.
About 80% of the schools that reported to the health department require masks indoors regardless of vaccination status, Byers said.
On the Coast, all districts require masks except for Harrison and Jackson County school districts.
“I think we’re seeing improvement in the school settings,” Byers said. “I think the schools are working very hard to try to limit transmission.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 3:16 PM.
