JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves says he is expanding his mask mandate to most of Mississippi’s 82 counties.
The Republican governor said 78 counties are now under mandate. The news comes as Mississippi has hit a new record high for coronavirus deaths reported in a single day. The Department of Health reported 79 new deaths Tuesday. The state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said the state is on track to surpass 1,000 deaths in December alone.
He urged people to avoid social gatherings with friends and extended family around Christmas. Nearly 4,500 people with the virus have died in Mississippi since the pandemic began.
The state is seeing more deaths and hospitalizations than ever. It doesn’t get much worse than that. Experts could not be more clear about how dire this situation has become.
“It’s bad and it’s getting worse. It’s exactly what we anticipated,” Dobbs said. “We’ve been very concerned and warning about overwhelming our health systems, and we’ve pretty much done it. We expect additional surges. We’ve learned pretty clearly the holidays are a weak point for us.”
Officials continue to beg Mississippians to avoid holiday gatherings and social events. They say restrictions in businesses and schools help to avoid the virus, but the majority of transmission is happening when residents let their guard down.
“In social gatherings outside the home and in the neighborhood, we’re still getting a lot of that reported. And so we’re still getting a lot of that reported and that certainly leads to much of the transmission,” Dr. Paul Byers, Mississippi State Epidemiologist, said.
Experts say Mississippians with and without COVID are now at risk for delayed or substandard healthcare because of the strain that hospitals are feeling.
Dr. Thomas Dobbs said with Christmas just three days away, doctors are hoping residents can behave with an eye on the future.
“Please, please just be careful over the next few weeks,” Dobbs said.
