Record coronavirus case numbers this week are putting Mississippi on a path to overwhelm the state’s healthcare system, says State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs. He says this could happen in the next two weeks. “The truth is there’s a lot of COVID-19 out there, it’s killing people, it’s going to kill a lot of people, and it’s going to stress out our healthcare system," says Dr. Dobbs. "That is just reality. And if people don’t want to acknowledge it, then I hope that when they go to the ICU and want care that there’s care available for them.”
Dr. Dobbs attributes the spike in cases to large, illegal gatherings of young Mississippians ages 18-29. He says “We’re already tight. We have a massively growing population of infected people that are going to transmit it more and more to older folks and people who are going to have severe adverse outcomes. This wreckless social behavior is going to harm the whole state. It’s going to harm the businesses in the state. It’s going to harm our economy. And it’s going to cause unnecessary deaths.”
To change the path Mississippi is on, State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers says people must adhere to wearing a mask and social distancing. “It’s like turning around the Titanic so it’s gonna take that persistence," says Dr. Byers. "It’s not that we can wear a mask and say that we’ve done our duty one day. It’s gotta have that persistence of those appropriate actions. And if people do that, we will see a downturn.”
Dr. Thomas Dobbs says it’s up to residents to make those decisions, and local governments to enforce current state regulations. “And then on the state level, we’re gonna have to look at more aggressive measures. To make sure that we get people to social distance and wear masks and not have these mass gatherings," says Dr. Dobbs. "I’m not sure how that’s gonna look. You know we still get a lot of pushback on things, you know youth sports and stuff like that. There’s a disconnect from reality and what people want. And there’s gonna be a reckoning.”
Health officials say if residents are not careful, Mississippi could look like New York at the height of the pandemic.
