CARTHAGE, Miss.–While the coronavirus has let up a bit in Mississippi, the number of deaths has not been trending downward, said Mississippi’s top doctors in a news conference Wednesday.
“We are starting to see some stabilization, but not so much in the deaths,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers. “We are still seeing increased numbers of deaths. We anticipate that we’re gonna see that for a time.”
Byers and state health officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said that’s indicative that the Delta surge is still intense in the state.
Of the 102 deaths reported across the state in the past day, seven were in central Mississippi. Four of those were people in Neshoba County, while there was one each in Leake, Scott and Holmes counties.
Today MSDH is reporting 1,934 more cases of COVID-19 in Mississippi, 102 deaths, and 132 ongoing outbreaks in long-term care facilities. State #covid19 totals: 455,282 cases, 8,787 deaths, and 1,203,290 persons fully vaccinated. Full information: https://t.co/YCv9xPyJDk pic.twitter.com/2qCgV4TWAY
— MS Dept of Health (@msdh) September 8, 2021
Dobbs pointed out that one part of the population has shown itself to be especially vulnerable.
“Sadly, we’ve seen a pretty significant number of pregnant woman not survive COVID in recent weeks,” he said. “Currently we are investigating eight reports of pregnant women who have died within the past several weeks, all of whom are unvaccinated.”
Dobbs said pregnant women who get diagnosed with COVID should immediately seek monocolonal antibody treatments, which have kept people alive and even out of the hospital.
Bamlanivimab / Etesevimab monoclonal Antibodies effective against Delta variant.
State Standing Order updated to include bam/ete and sotrovimab.
Remember – mAbs are for pregnant women too. We have lost too many.https://t.co/RPB7EhwxKm
— thomas dobbs (@TCBPubHealth) September 7, 2021
One child was also reported to have died from COVID. Byers said the child was less than a year old. He said seven children have died of COVID in the state since the pandemic began.
Dobbs said 50,000 Mississippians took the shot(s) over the past week.
“We have almost 1.5 million people, almost half of the state has received at least one dose. So, we are making some progress,” he said.
A vaccination clinic will be held in Carthage this weekend.
