Mississippi Now Has the Worst COVID-19 Outbreak in US, Report Says

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Aug 24, 2020 05:05 AM EDT

As the nation continues to fight the rampant spread of coronavirus across the states, a new state has been named with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

Mississippi is the only state currently considered a "Red Zone," where daily new cases surpass 25 per 100,000 residents, according to a Harvard Global Health initiative COVID-19 tracker.

Other states like Texas, Florida, Georgia, and California are seeing higher total case counts due to their larger populations. But the infection rates in Mississippi are higher per capita compared to these populated states.

Mississippi had reached a total of 77,894 cases and 2,240 deaths, as of Sunday afternoon. Cases have decreased over the past two weeks in the state, but Mississippi officials have warned the public that a new surge might be on its way.

The state health officer for the Mississippi State Department of Health, Thomas Dobbs, MD, MPH, said he expects an even more severe surge this week.

Dobbs said this was due to schools, colleges, and "really, really bad judgment coming together." This could be dangerous in counties with high infection rates. Some Mississippi counties have already topped 100 new daily cases per 100,000 residents.

"A lot of the outbreaks we're seeing at the high schools is because the parents are hosting parties. Senior parties, groups, spend-the-night parties. I don't know why this doesn't scare people, but it's illegal," Dobbs said in a report.

Mississippi School District

Lafayette County School District's whole fourth-grade class will be quarantined in the next two weeks due to more positive COVID-19 cases.

The school district reported on Sunday that three new cases were all located in the Lafayette Upper Elementary School (LUES) faculty.

LUES has six COVID-19 cases among faculty and staff and one positive case among the students. The 14-day quarantine will start on Aug. 24 and will end on Sept. 7. The school district also said they were extending their hybrid return of two split groups.

"We believe taking this step will better protect our students and help our efforts to contain while providing a healthy environment for all of our students and staff," the school district said in a report.

Mississippi Governor on COVID-19

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announced two measures to assist students and teachers as more schools continue to reopen.

One expands access to coronavirus testing to teachers, even if they are not showing any symptoms. The other allows emergency telehealth services to be offered at schools for students covered under Medicaid. Reeves noted that this could be an option for about half of Mississippi school campuses.

Reeves said these measures would allow schools, even without school nurses or school-based clinics, to access telehealth services. He added that a physician or a healthcare worker would be able to provide remote services in schools across the state.

Meanwhile, teachers can get a test at the state's primary drive-through site in Jackson, or one of the mobile sites that rotate throughout Mississippi.

Dobbs said 16 new testing teams would begin roving around local health department offices to offer free drive-through testing for educators.