Governor Tate Reeves says he thought it was bad when the state saw 1,500 new coronavirus cases in a week. But now, the department of health is reporting that many cases and more in one day. The rise in cases is stressing the healthcare system to the point that hospitals are sending patients out of state because there aren’t enough beds in intensive care units. Now Reeves is calling on hospitals to set aside more space for patients with the virus.
“I said if you can surge ICU beds now’s the time. I also said if you were deferring Covid 19 patients, we’re going to look at eliminating elective surgeries on a facility by facility basis. Not because we want to. Not because we think every patient in the state will get the best quality care. It’s going to be necessary,” said Reeves.
Elective surgeries are a large portion of a hospital’s source of revenue. Right now hospitals are being asked to avoid elective surgeries that require hospitalization. Although Reeves hasn’t issued a mask mandate he says more people are wearing them--but nothing is off the table.
“We have got to do as much as we possibly can to increase the number of people who are wearing masks in public and the reason we have to do that is because we don’t want to take the next step. I don’t want to shut down restaurants. I don’t want to shut down private sector businesses,” said Reeves
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs stressed that even though fewer young people die from the virus, 17 percent of those infected are between 18 and 29 years old.
“But even younger people are getting the virus that we know of. We have 2,413 cases between the ages of 11 and 17. We have 990 between six and 10," said Dobbs.
When questioned about reopening schools, Dobb says its important schools take proper precautions because the coronavirus will be around for a long time.
