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Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves downplayed his state’s high death rate from Covid on Sunday, calling it an inadequate benchmark for measuring the state’s pandemic toll.
The state is among the top three in the country for per capita Covid-19 deaths, behind only Florida and Alabama, according to the New York Times database.
Only 42 percent of Mississippi residents are vaccinated, well below the national average of 54 percent, according to the New York Times database. The number of deaths has increased by 18% in the past 14 days, bringing its total to more than 9,200 reported deaths.
“Unfortunately, deaths are a lagging indicator for the virus,” Mr. Reeves said on CNN’s “State of the Union”. “Timing has as much to do with this statistic as anything.”
Mr Reeves attributed the deaths to the presence of the more contagious Delta variant, suggesting that current conditions in the state are temporary. He also noted that new cases in Mississippi were on the decline recently.
Despite further investigations, Mr Reeves declined to answer whether his state would take further action. Mr Reeves, who is vaccinated, said vaccination is “the best thing Americans can do to protect themselves against the virus.”
The governor criticized the Biden administration’s plans to enforce a vaccination mandate for two-thirds of American workers.
“This is the president’s attack on hard-working Americans and hard-working Mississippians, that he wants to choose between getting hit in the arm – and their ability to feed their families,” Mr. Reeves.
In addition to challenging the constitutionality of the proposed mandate, Mr Reeves, who is vaccinated, has raised concerns about the legal precedent it would set.
“It should scare Democrats as much as Republicans,” he said. “The point is, if we give an individual the unilateral authority to do whatever they want to do – whether it’s a hit in the arm or whatever – then this country is in deep, deep trouble. It’s not something I’m going to support and let him do.
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