Mississippi Grade 8 student dies of COVID shortly after Governor Reeves downplays risks to students

An eighth-grade girl from Mississippi died just hours after testing positive for COVID-19 – and less than a day after Governor Tate Reeves downplayed the risk of the virus at a press conference on Friday.

The student, who has not been identified, attended classes at his school for most of the week before testing positive for the virus, Mississippi Free Press reported. Her health deteriorated rapidly after the diagnosis and is said to have died on Saturday morning.

The teenager has been described as a perfect student whom all teachers adored, according to WLBT-TV.

Schools in Smith County, the school district where she attended, announced on Aug. 10 that students and employees would be required to wear masks after several people tested positive for the virus.

At a press conference Friday, Reeves, a Republican, reiterated his policy of not imposing masks in schools, saying the risk of students falling seriously ill from the virus is low.

“If you look at these people under 12, what you see is that it’s very rare for children under 12 to have anything other than sniffles,” he said.

He acknowledged that severe cases of COVID-19 rarely occur in children and that the state has killed a handful of children from the virus.

Mississippi state health official Dr Thomas Dobbs said as of Friday four children had died from the virus in the state, one over the summer. That number is now five.

“For those under 12 who are not currently eligible for the vaccine, it is very unusual for there to be significant effects,” Reeves said.

He said it is recommended that any parent who is concerned that their children will contract the virus at school go to their local school district and apply for a mask warrant. He said students are also urged to wear masks in schools if they feel it will protect them.

“I am confident that the individual school district around Mississippi takes into account all local factors,” Reeves said.

Cases of COVID-19 have increased in Mississippi due to the highly transmissible Delta variant. The state had a 7-day average of 3,217 new cases per day on Friday, a significant increase from the previous month when that number was 392, according to data from John Hopkins University. It is one of the least vaccinated states in the country, as only 35.92% of the population is fully vaccinated.

Statewide, more than 4,400 students are in quarantine after being exposed to the virus, Dobbs said at the press conference. Reeves said the majority of students stay in class.

“If we have about 450,000 Mississippi children in classrooms across the state, if there are 5,000 that are quarantined, that means there are 445,000 in learning in. class, ”he said.

The governor announced Thursday that the Mississippi state of emergency would be extended for 30 days, but that “there will be no statewide mandates.”

News week contacted Reeves’ office for comment, but had not received a response by post. This story will be updated with any response.