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THURSDAY July 29, 2021 (HealthDay News)
An “astonishing” increase in COVID-19 cases in Mississippi is putting intense pressure on the state’s health care system.
Compared with the first half of July, the number of infections has more than doubled in the past two weeks and deaths have increased by 51%. In Mississippi, deaths lost to COVID-19 now average between three and four per day, health officials said at a press conference on Wednesday, The New York Times reported.
More than 300 COVID-19 patients are currently in intensive care or on ventilation, compared to a few dozen in early July. In hospitals where intensive care units are full, some patients are being treated in the emergency room, officials said.
Reflecting actions taken earlier in the pandemic, Mississippi hospitals have been ordered to delay some elective surgeries and transfer patients to other facilities with available beds if needed, the Times reported.
Many health workers are “absolutely exhausted” and some hospital nurses are resigning, which could make it more difficult to manage the current peak, warned Dr Thomas Dobbs, the public health officer.
The recent increase in daily infections is “astonishing,” said Dr Paul Byers, the state epidemiologist, Times reported.
Byers singled out 72 long-term care facilities where unvaccinated workers widely spread the virus, but also blamed environments such as summer schools and cheerleader camps.
He added that it is likely that the cases will continue to increase in the coming weeks. When asked where the epidemics are most severe, Byers said: “We are covered with epidemics”, the Times reported.
Mississippi’s efforts to bring the situation under control are hampered by widespread misinformation about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, Dobbs said.
Less than half of the state’s adults have received at least one injection, the lowest rate in the country, the Times Noted.
“We’re going to make the vaccine available, but you know there’s a mountain of opposition against us from some people,” Dobbs said. “We got into this mess together, and we have to get out of it together.”
More information
There is more on COVID-19 at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
THE SOURCE: The New York Times
Robert Preidt
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