Transmission of the coronavirus is rising, and State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs says around 2% of the population is contagious. He asks residents to not visit family or attend church services this holiday season, especially those who are at an increased health risk. He says at a party of 50 people, it is likely that one person is spreading the virus. “And we have this, it’s part of our wiring that if we’re around people we know, we think ‘safety.’ And that’s just not the case,” says Dr. Dobbs.
“In the last two weeks we had almost 25,000 additional cases reported in Mississippi,” says State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers. “By comparison the two weeks prior to that, it was about 14,000.” He says deaths also jumped in that time, from 240 deaths to 275 statewide. “These are some disturbing trends, guys. 25,000 additional cases in a two-week time frame, is mind-boggling.”
Around 5000 more people have died in 2020 than in 2019, a 20% increase in mortality according to health officials. This includes all deaths. But there are still several weeks to go in the year, and Dr. Dobbs says there could be more than 1000 additional coronavirus related deaths in the state by the end of December.
Doses of the coronavirus vaccine will be delivered to select Mississippi hospitals beginning today, and more will be distributed by the Department of Health. Dr. Byers says supplies are limited and hospitals will decide which healthcare workers will receive the vaccination.
“And again that’s the Pfizer. We’re not getting a lot of vaccines. It’s going to be a priority for those healthcare workers who are in hospital settings who are the front line folks who are taking care of the patients.” says Dr. Byers. “We’re working to get an allocation to every hospital.”
There is no vaccine for those under the age of 16 because of issues receiving approvals, say health officials.
Health officials say the vaccine will be another tool to slow the coronavirus, but they are expressing their concerns about the current levels of transmission. On a Facebook live roundtable with the Mississippi State Medical Association, Dr. Dobbs says until the vaccine becomes widely available, residents need to stay vigilant.
“Our average daily numbers are really frightening,” says Dr. Thomas Dobbs, describing how reported cases have gone beyond 2000 cases several times in one week. “And if you look at the number of cases and consider that 10% of all the diagnosed cases will end up in the hospital, and our hospitals are full,” says Dr. Dobbs. “To date, the highest number of daily admission we’ve seen is 174, right? So if you have 2,300 cases, and we go to 230 admissions a day[...] We’ve filled up the cup.”
As hospitals operate at this high volume, transferring patients has become difficult. Elective surgeries involve procedures that aren't immediately required to save a life but can sometimes be critical to treating serious conditions that can worsen without the surgery. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs has ordered a pause in elective surgeries starting tomorrow. He says doctors and hospitals across the state have been calling him saying they are overwhelmed. “This does not apply to same-day stuff. It doesn’t apply to outpatient surgery, only things that have a scheduled overnight hospital stay. For one week. And we’ll see, we’ll revisit it, we may need to go a little bit longer.”
The list of elective procedures include colonoscopies, knee replacements and certain cancer surgeries. The order will be in place until at least December 23.
Health officials are enacting a crisis operations plan that will oversee hospital transfers requiring intensive care. Tier 4 hospitals without Intensive Care Units have struggled to transfer patients because larger facilities have no available resources. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs signed the public health order that went into effect yesterday. He says facilities must now admit additional patients on a rotational basis, even if there is no extra room. “That way we sort of spread the angst a little bit. Everybody can almost always just take one more. Even as difficult as it is, versus having some of these uneven sort of things. It shouldn’t be all that common because we’re talking about the level-4 hospitals. Most of the pressure is going to be coming through your ER or the normal referral network. But we’ve had some adverse outcomes and we’ve had some deaths.”
Long term care outbreaks of the coronavirus are also at an all-time high, and health officials say these vulnerable populations are at high risk of severe outcomes. “We’ve got over 200 outbreaks in long term care settings right now, and 140 plus are in nursing homes. And if you compare that to the number of nursing homes in the state, which is [210], it’s another staggering number,” says Dr. Paul Byers. “Our biggest concern is this vulnerable population that results in severe infections, hospitalizations and deaths. And we’ve seen it over, and over, and over again. I think in these last couple of weeks, we’ve seen somewhere around[...] over 150 deaths in long-term care residents. That’s huge.” He says some facilities could have multiple deaths in one day.
Virus outbreaks in schools have risen. Dr. Byers says “Our numbers of kids and teachers who were infected went way back up. The number of kids and teachers who were on quarantine went way back up. Number of outbreaks in school settings went up. I think there were over 70 schools that had to go virtual because of outbreaks and folks on quarantine. I think the schools are really starting to see the brunt of all of the transmission. Whether or not the transmission is occurring directly within the school place or not, we’re just seeing so much COVID-19 now that we’re seeing it in the kids and teachers.”
Doctors and health officials ask everyone to stay home for the holidays to help limit the spread of the virus.
