Where can you get the COVID-19 vaccine in Mississippi? When will you be eligible? We answered several key COVID-19 vaccine questions. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, Pool)

We, like you, have many questions about the COVID-19 vaccination process in Mississippi. 

We’ve asked the state’s top healthcare officials key questions and compiled information from the Mississippi State Department of Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Below, you can find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions we’ve heard.

We realize your questions may not be listed or addressed here. If you have questions that aren’t answered, please email us at tips@mississippitoday.org, and we’ll do our best to get them answered.

You should also visit the health department’s vaccine page for basic information. The state health department also has a hotline you can call to ask questions about the vaccine process.  That number is 1-877-978-6453.

Am I eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine?

Mississippi is administering vaccinations in phases. As of Jan. 9, the state is currently in the first phase (Phase 1a), which gives priority to paid and unpaid healthcare workers and long-term care residents and Mississippians age 75 or older. According to the MSDH, healthcare workers are defined as “nurses, physicians, emergency medical services, technicians, pharmacists, dietary and food staff, environmental services staff and others.”

The next phase, Phase 1b.1, includes first responders, educators, childcare workers, and workers in congregate settings (places like jails, halfway homes and any other facility where people live) workers. Officials said they expect Mississippians aged 65 and older will soon be eligible to receive the vaccine.

I’m not qualified for the current phases, but when might I become eligible?

State health officials said Mississippians aged 65 and older will likely be granted access to the vaccine the week of Jan. 18.

Health officials do not know when, exactly, the next phases of vaccine distribution will officially begin. The dates listed in the chart above are just estimates that health officials shared. The timing of phases depends on how many doses the state receives from the federal government, and how many people qualified for the early phases choose to receive the vaccine. Officials also warned that the greater public may not have access to the vaccines for several weeks or months.

Where can I get vaccinated?

Several hospital systems and other healthcare providers have begun vaccinating patients. 

The Mississippi State Department of Health, which is managing the state’s vaccine distribution, has partnered with the University of Mississippi Medical Center and opened 18 drive-thru vaccination sites. If you are qualified to receive the vaccine, you may schedule an appointment to receive the vaccine through the MSDH/UMMC partnership at this link. You can also call the state’s COVID-19 hotline to schedule an appointment at 1-877-978-6453.

Other healthcare providers and other hospital systems are offering their own vaccine distribution options, separate from the MSDH/UMMC partnership. Click here to see the full list, as of Jan. 8, that shows other healthcare providers that are providing the vaccines to Mississippians. Phone numbers of these providers are listed on this link, and many of the providers have COVID-19 vaccine websites where you can find more information.

Is it safe for me to take a COVID-19 vaccine?

Numerous studies for both of the currently available vaccines have been conducted by the world’s leading health experts over the last several months, and MSDH epidemiologists have studied that data. COVID-19 vaccines have been subjected to the same rigorous process for evaluating safety and effectiveness as any other vaccine approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The state’s top health officials were the first Mississippians to become inoculated, and they did it in front of television cameras to assure the public that the vaccine is safe. Top elected officials of both major parties and all backgrounds, including Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, have publicly urged Mississippians to get vaccinated.

As with any vaccine, there can be some side effects. Generally speaking, data from thorough clinical trials demonstrate that “the known and potential benefits of this vaccine outweigh the known and potential harms of becoming infected with COVID-19,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More safety information about the vaccines can be found here.

How many vaccine doses does Mississippi have, and how many people have received the vaccine?

As of Jan. 8, the state has received 214,600 vaccine doses and administered 41,541. Across the state, 1,029 people have already received both doses of the vaccine.

Healthcare providers are asked to submit records of vaccination to the state department of health within 72 hours of administration. Top health officials said that process likely means the true number of administered vaccines is delayed.

You can check the MSDH website for near daily updates.

How are vaccines distributed?

The federal government oversees a centralized system to order, distribute, and track COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccines are ordered through the CDC. Vaccine providers will receive vaccines from CDC’s centralized distributor or directly from a vaccine manufacturer.

The Mississippi State Department of Health is working with the CDC to manage the vaccine distribution process, sending vaccine to private providers and hospitals throughout the state.

Separately, the federal government is working directly with CVS and Walgreens to get vaccines to long-term care facilities like nursing homes.

Is the vaccine free?

It depends on where you receive it. Some vaccination providers like the University of Mississippi Medical Center, in partnership with the Mississippi State Department of Health, are offering the vaccines free of charge.

However, vaccination providers can choose to charge an administration fee for giving the shot to someone. Vaccine providers can get this fee reimbursed by the patient’s public or private insurance company or, for uninsured patients, by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Provider Relief Fund.

Which vaccines are available in Mississippi?

The Mississippi Department of Health is using both the Moderna and Pfizer BioNtech vaccines. Both vaccines require two doses. People 16 and up can receive the Pfizer vaccine, and those 18 and up can receive the Moderna vaccine.

Do I need both doses for the vaccine to be fully effective?

Yes. The Moderna vaccine requires the second shot to be administered 28 days after the first dose, and the Pfizer vaccine requires a second dose 21 days later. These two types of vaccines are not interchangeable; you must receive the same kind in your second dose as you did for your first.

I’m a caregiver for someone who is currently eligible to receive the vaccine, but I don’t seem to be eligible right now. Can I receive a vaccine?

No, not at this time. The only way a Mississippian can currently receive a vaccine is if they are a healthcare worker or they are 75 years and older.

A person caring for their own relative at home would not be considered a healthcare worker since they are not a healthcare professional, it is not in a healthcare/medical capacity, and it is not in a healthcare setting. The same would be true for a person caring for a disabled relative.

I’m pregnant. Can I take the vaccine?

The MSDH says, “Pregnant women and lactating women and those who are immunocompromised may take the vaccine; however, consultation with your healthcare provider is recommended.”

The CDC notes there is limited data about the safety of COVID vaccines for pregnant women, though “…experts believe they are unlikely to pose a specific risk for people who are pregnant. However, the actual risks of mRNA vaccines to the pregnant person and her fetus are unknown because these vaccines have not been studied in pregnant women.”

I’ve already had COVID-19. Can I get the vaccine?

Yes. If you are out of your isolation period — 10 days after the onset of symptoms or 10 days after the test was done if you have no symptoms — and you no longer have symptoms or they have significantly subsided, you can get the vaccine if it is available to you.

Can I still spread the virus after being vaccinated?

According to the CDC: “It typically takes a few weeks for the body to build immunity (protection against the virus that causes COVID-19) after vaccination. That means it’s possible a person could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 just before or just after vaccination and still get sick.”

Once I get the vaccine, can I return to life as normal?

The Mississippi State Department of Health encourages people who receive the vaccine to continue following public safety guidelines, such as wearing a mask and social distancing.

Editor’s note: We are working hard to get answers about the COVID-19 vaccine process in Mississippi. If you have questions that aren’t answered here, please email us at tips@mississippitoday.org and we’ll do our best to get them answered quickly.

The post Frequently asked questions about COVID-19 vaccines in Mississippi appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Fulton Carson, shown here with Iowa State players coming onto the field at the 2012 Liberty Bowl.

When Hinds County resident Fulton Carson takes the field Monday night for college football’s national championship game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, it is quite possible that no participant will have come further.

We’re not talking miles here.

Carson, born in Vicksburg and raised on a farm in Utica, will serve as the side judge on the Big 12 Conference crew that will officiate the Alabama-Ohio State game that will be watched by millions.

Nervous, Carson was asked?

“Well, I’ve got nervous energy,” he replied from his home in Raymond. “Anybody who tells you they aren’t nervous for something like this is probably in the wrong business — that or they aren’t telling the truth. Obviously, it is an intense moment. But nervous energy is good. Once the game gets underway and you start focusing on the rules and the game, the nerves go away.”

Rick Cleveland

Carson, a 55-year-old computer scientist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will fly to Miami Saturday morning. That’s a relatively short trip, but the road to the national championship game has been a long and curvy one. He was one of 10 children born to farming parents. “My three brothers and I call ourselves the last of the farmers,” he said chuckling. “We grew up working on the family farm.”

When he wasn’t doing farm chores, young Carson played ball: baseball, basketball, football, you name it.

Baseball was his best sport, which led to a scholarship to play for Mississippi Valley State, where he was a slick-fielding shortstop and an excellent student in industrial technology. Carson graduated in 1988 but did not immediately begin to officiate.

“I did a lot of volunteering, working with kids in my community,” he said. “That included both coaching and officiating. Some of my friends started officiating junior high and high school games. I thought to myself, ‘Hey, I can do that,’ and so I did.”

Fulton Carson was a proud father recently when his daughter, Shelby Carson, signed to play softball at Mississippi Valley State.

Carson began by doing junior high and high school junior varsity games. Then he moved up to varsity games, both officiating football and umpiring baseball.

He says it wasn’t so much for the money as it was for staying involved.

“To me, officiating is a lot like community service,” Carson said. “You really are serving your community. Without officials you can’t have the games. I don’t care whether you’re officiating a Texas game at Oklahoma or a high school game in Sebastopol. That game is important to those players, those coaches and those fans. You owe them the same energy, the same focus. You want to get it right.”

From high school games, Carson moved to the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), where he called games with fellow MVSU graduate and former SEC official Hubert Owens.

“He was excellent, just excellent,” Owens said of Carson. “He hd a quiet demeanor. He was knowledgeable and professional and eager to learn all he could. He was like a sponge.”

Owens said he lobbied long and hard for the SEC to hire Carson. That never happened, but Carson did hear from the Mountain West Conference in 2010. And after working MWC games for two seasons, he was hired by the Big 12 in 2012.

He has moved up the officiating ladder in the Big 12, drawing more and more of the most high-profile games, including this past season’s Big 12 Championship Game. He has done many bowl games in the past. He has done national championship games at the lesser Division I level. Clearly, he has done well. After all, you don’t get assigned to a national championship game if you haven’t graded well during the regular season.

“I am honored and I am grateful, and I thank God for it,” Carson said. “I owe a lot to the older guys who were officiating high school games when I got started. There were a lot of those guys who could have done what I am doing now. They just never got the chance.”

The post His name is Carson, he lives in Raymond, and he will officiate the national championship appeared first on Mississippi Today.

U.S. Congressmen Trent Kelly and Michael Guest met with a group of Mississippians that later joined the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol (photo from Facebook).

A group called the “Patriot Party of Mississippi” traveled to Washington to participate in a Wednesday rally that later grew into a violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol — an effort to protest and overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s election over Republican President Donald Trump.

Before the pro-Trump violence broke out, the small Mississippi group was greeted by two of Mississippi’s most powerful politicians: Republican U.S. Reps. Trent Kelly, the highest ranking military officer in Congress, and Michael Guest, who represents the state’s 3rd congressional district.

A photo of the group with the congressmen was published in the Greenwood Commonwealth newspaper and is circulating on social media. Mississippi Today reached out to staffers for Kelly and Guest to ask about the meeting.

Kelly’s staff organized the Wednesday morning meeting and invited Guest to meet with the group at a park adjacent to the Cannon congressional office building, a staffer for Guest told Mississippi Today.

“It wasn’t anywhere close to where the president was speaking or where any active protest was going on,” said Rob Pillow, Guest’s communications director who attended the meeting. “(The congressmen) weren’t out at a protest participating in any of the rallying cries that were going on. It was pretty early morning and was still what appeared to be a normal day.”

Pillow continued: “At that time, (Guest) was still weighing his decision about how he was going to vote in the (electoral college) certification process. The conversation was mainly about procedure, and it probably lasted about 5-10 minutes. They took a photo, and we walked back into the Cannon House office building. That was the extent of it.”

Kelly’s office did not return a request for comment. Later that day, both Kelly and Guest voted not to certify the electoral college votes of Arizona and Pennsylvania — states that elected Democrat Joe Biden over President Donald Trump in November.

The “Patriot Party of Mississippi” is one of several similar groups that was formed on Facebook in the last week of December 2020. The group used tags from high-profile conspiracy theorists on right-wing and white nationalist websites and social media pages, and the Mississippi group’s posts invited supporters to “Operation Occupy the Capitol” on Jan. 6, when they vowed to “take back our country from corrupt politicians.”

In the photo with the congressmen, one person held a sign that showed the group’s name. Others wore Trump apparel.

Pillow said that Guest in no way condoned the violence that occurred on Wednesday and highlighted the congressman’s public statements about the matter.

“Like most Americans, he (Guest) is just distraught over what happened on Wednesday,” Pillow said.

After meeting with Kelly and Guest, several members of the Mississippi group later joined the thousands of Trump supporters on the National Mall, one of the group’s members told a newspaper. Hundreds of those Trump supporters later stormed the Capitol.

Many pro-Trump rioters on Wednesday assaulted Capitol Police officers and tore down security barricades on their way into the Capitol. The rioters — many of whom were visibly armed and carrying pro-Trump and Confederate flags — broke windows and pushed through security doors to get inside. They ransacked dozens of congressional offices, trashed the building and breached national security by stealing documents and computers.

During the riot, police locked down both legislative chambers of the building and nearby congressional office buildings. Both Kelly and Guest along with other House members had to shelter in place, and their staffers were in lockdown inside their office buildings. Several high-profile members of Congress were evacuated.

At least five people, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer, had died as a result of the riot as of Friday morning. The moment marked the first time that the Capitol was sieged by a large, violent group since the War of 1812.

READ MORE: Pro-Trump mob storms U.S. Capitol, members of Congress evacuated.

It is unclear whether any of the Mississippi group’s members who met with Kelly and Guest entered the Capitol building or broke any laws. Efforts to contact several of the group’s members have been unsuccessful.

One of the Mississippi “patriot” group’s members Susan Spiller, who is the secretary-treasurer of the Leflore County Republican Party Executive Committee, said in an interview with the Greenwood Commonwealth this week that the Mississippi group, made up of people who have “had it” with the Republican Party, was in Washington to show politicians they would not accept the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“They won’t listen to the people, and they’re spending our money, and they’re doing all this type of stuff,” Spiller said. “We own that Capitol building. We are the boss of the people of Congress. We the U.S. citizens pay their salaries, and we’re being taxed for all that but no representation for all that.”

Spiller, who said she did not personally enter the Capitol building on Wednesday, falsely claimed the greater mob wasn’t violent.

When asked her thoughts about the action of the rioters, Spiller paused and told the newspaper, “That’s kind of hard to say… They probably shouldn’t have done that, gone that far, but I really think they wanted to send a message.”

As the rioters sieged the building on Wednesday, Congress was meeting in joint session to certify the electoral votes from the states. Biden received 306 of the 538 elector votes from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Though the certification of the electoral votes from the states is normally a formality, the law allows Congress to reject them and theoretically select the new president.

Reps. Kelly, Guest and Steven Palazzo — all ardent supporters of Trump — backed a failed effort of lawmakers who aimed to overturn Biden’s victory by pushing disproven theories and inaccuracies about Arizona and Pennsylvania botching the election process.

READ MORE: Mississippi’s GOP congressmen voted to overturn Biden win in Arizona, Pennsylvania.

Republicans did not have nearly enough votes in the House or Senate to reject the Biden election, and constitutional scholars questioned whether Congress could overturn the results in the first place.

By the time police cleared the Capitol and lawmakers returned to finish the certification process on Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning, several of the Republicans in both the House and Senate who had earlier planned to object to elector certification reversed their positions. Many Republicans even called Trump out specifically for inciting the violence.

But Kelly, Guest and Palazzo, along with Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, rejected certification of Arizona and Pennsylvania, the two states that were challenged. Republican Sen. Roger Wicker and Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson voted to certify the election results in all 50 states.

READ MORE: Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith supports losing effort to overturn Biden presidential victory.

The post Congressmen Kelly, Guest met with Mississippi ‘patriot’ group before Capitol riot appeared first on Mississippi Today.

COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 2,175 new cases

By Mississippi Today | January 8, 2021

We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.

This page was last updated Friday, January 8:

New cases: 2,175| New Deaths: 40

Total Hospitalizations: 1,480

Total cases:233,665 | Total Deaths: 5,101

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 78 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

All data and information reported by the Mississippi State Department of Health as of 6 p.m. yesterday

Weekly update: Wednesday, December 16

By Alex Rozier

On Tuesday Mississippi hit a new record with the seven-day average for cases, reaching 2,196. After going nine months without reporting 2,000 cases in a day, the state has reached that point nine times in just the 16 days of December so far. 

On Dec. 9, Mississippi also hit a new high for total hospitalizations on the rolling average, surpassing the summer peak. The state had already reached a new high for confirmed hospitalizations at the end of November, but hadn’t yet for the total tally, which includes suspected cases as well.

As seen in MSDH’s illness onset chart, the record for most illnesses in a day — Dec. 11, with 2,442 — is within the last two-week period, meaning those numbers could still go up.  

Mississippi’s present rise in cases mirrors the national surge, as the state currently has the 26th most new cases per capita. According to the Harvard Global Health Institute tracker, every state except Vermont is now in the “red zone” (recording over 25 daily new cases per 100,000 people). 

The health department reports that 148,466 people are presumed covered as of Dec. 13.

Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:

View our COVID-19 resource page for more information about coronavirus in Mississippi.

The post COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 2,175 new cases appeared first on Mississippi Today.

U.S. Capitol Police with guns drawn stand near a barricaded door as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, chair of a key subcommittee over Capitol Police, was noncommittal Thursday as other lawmakers called for investigations into Wednesday’s riot at the U.S. Capitol and response from police and military.

Hyde-Smith, Mississippi’s junior senator and a Republican, serves as chair of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of Senate Appropriations, which has budget and spending oversight authority over Capitol Police. The Democratic chair of the same subcommittee in the House on Thursday announced a “review of the law enforcement response to yesterday’s coup attempt.”

Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith serves as chair of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of Senate Appropriations, which has budget and spending oversight authority over Capitol Police.

In a written statement on Thursday, a Hyde-Smith spokesman said: “Senator Hyde-Smith continues to monitor the situation closely. Committees of jurisdiction, the U.S. Capitol Police and others will examine these events thoroughly in terms of how this tragedy occurred, how to prevent a repeated occurrence, and how to improve the security of the Capitol campus while ensuring orderly and appropriate public access.”

Hyde-Smith’s statement stands in contrast to the public comments of the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. Murphy on Wednesday was more vocal in calling for investigation and reform after the takeover of the Capitol.

“I have had two phone calls with the Chief of the Capitol Police and one with the Secretary of the Army in the last 14 hours,” Murphy tweeted on Thursday. “… We need major reform to the way we defend the Capitol and we need to get started now.

“There will be many videos, some will raise concern, some will show heroism,” Murphy said. “We need a full investigation on how the Capitol’s security was breached this quickly. As the ranking member on the committee that funds the Capitol Police, I intend to be at the forefront of that inquiry.”

Murphy also said a key question from Wednesday’s attack is “why it took hours for there to be a response from the U.S. military to an armed invasion of the United States Capitol.”

“Why spend $700B on the military if they can’t defend the Capitol from attack?” Murphy said.

Hyde-Smith’s chairmanship of the subcommittee is likely short-lived, with Democrats soon to take control of the Senate after this week’s elections in Georgia.

READ MORE: Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith supports losing effort to overturn Biden presidential victory.

On the House side, Legislative Branch Subcommittee Chair Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, in a joint press release with Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, said, “It is obvious that there was a severe systemic failure in securing the building’s perimeter and the response once the building was breached.”

“To ensure the safety of those who work and visit here, we must get to the bottom of these breakdowns and prevent them from ever happening again. (The subcommittee) is robustly investigating yesterday’s events, including with hearings to directly question key leaders about what went wrong.”

The Capitol Police force, created in 1800 when Congress moved from Philadelphia to Washington, has about 2,000 sworn officers and 350 civilian employees. Its budget this year is about $516 million.

Besides budget and spending oversight by the Legislative Branch committees, the Committee on House Administration and Senate Committee on Rules and Administration have authorization oversight of the agency.

As some lawmakers called for his resignation on Thursday, Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund issued a statement that included:

“The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was unlike any I have ever experienced in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, D.C. Maintaining public safety in an open environment — specifically for First Amendment activities — has long been a challenge. The USCP had a robust plan established to address anticipated First Amendment activities. But make no mistake – these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; they were criminal riotous behavior. The actions of the USCP officers were heroic given the situation they faced, and I continue to have tremendous respect in the professionalism and dedication of the women and men of the United States Capitol Police.”

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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

Cody Killen, Neshoba Central Middle School Principal, talks to an English class on the day of school on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 in Philadelphia, Miss.

Schools across the state saw massive drops in student attendance in the fall semester, and more than half of Mississippi school districts appealed to the state superintendent of education with concerns about their funding as a result.

School districts are funded based on a calculation known as average daily attendance. This figure is a snapshot of attendance for the school year taken by averaging daily attendance for the second and third months of the academic year. Students must be present for at least 63% of a school day or they are marked absent.

While enrollment in public schools decreased around 23,000 students from last year to this year, absenteeism among enrolled students was on the rise due to quarantining, positive COVID-19 infections and connectivity issues.

READ MORE: State Superintendent Carey Wright discusses where 23,000 students went this year

Though the total amount schools stand to lose is unclear, superintendents from 80 school districts asked Carey Wright, the state superintendent of education, to consider whether their funding can be adjusted based on an “inordinately large number of absences” as the result of an epidemic or natural disaster. 

Carla Evers, superintendent of Pass Christian School District, detailed widespread attendance issues in an email to Wright on Nov. 30 appealing for an adjusted funding amount based on a provision in state law. She said despite the fact that nearly 90% of students are learning in person, absences are high due to quarantining and infections.

“Both virtual and in-person students and parents are finding it difficult to balance this new set of circumstances. With parents faced with the difficult choice of keeping their children at home and the need to return to work, children are often left to their own devices during the day,” she wrote. “This COVID-related phenomenon has resulted in unprecedented attendance issues in our schools with some days being in the low 80% range.” 

The district usually has strong attendance rates — above 95% — and very low chronic absenteeism, which is defined as missing more than 10% or more of school days and is linked to poor outcomes such as falling behind academically and a lower chance of graduating from high school. 

“Currently, 29% of students have 5 or more absences with 11% having already met the threshold for chronic absenteeism” as of Nov. 30, she said. 

A rule under the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the law used to determine public school funding, provides a complicated formula to determine whether a district has experienced an “inordinately large number of absences.” If it has, the district can receive funds based on the prior year’s average daily attendance figure.

Specific figures are unclear, but many districts would stand to lose a substantial amount of money if numbers from this year are used — one reason why Wright is asking the Legislature to consider an alternative approach to calculating average daily attendance.

“There is a lot of concern, and rightfully so, from state superintendents about the children they’ve lost, but we fully expect those children to return once we get past the vaccination and the issues around the pandemic,” she told members of the Senate Education Committee at a hearing on Wednesday. 

Jackson County School District Superintendent John Strycker said if the actual numbers for this year were used to fund his district next year, it would result in a loss of around $900,000, or the equivalent of 14 teacher positions.

The district’s overall enrollment is also down 5% due to students’ transition to home school, private school or moving elsewhere.

“If funding were cut (this year) we’d be hit twice — lower funding in a year with an expected increase in students because of kindergartners delaying entry and homeschooled (students) returning to school,” he said. 

Enterprise School District Superintendent Josh Perkins described the attendance issue in his schools in his appeal to Wright.

Despite operating in a traditional, in-person format all semester, COVID-19 infections and exposure among students and family members has led to an increase in absences. 

“Being a rural school district, the quarantining of students with connectivity issues for 14 days had lead to a decrease in attendance and engagement from those individuals,” Perkins wrote in a Nov. 20 letter. 

Perkins said students who have elected to learn virtually full-time are “struggling academically and failing to participate in the daily lessons. Due to this, these students are being marked absent, which significantly lowers our average daily attendance.”

At the legislative meeting this week, Wright presented three different funding scenarios to lawmakers but recommended they use a three-year average of average daily attendance spanning 2018-19 through 2020-21 to fund schools this year. 

“This takes into account the ups and downs over a period of time,” she told lawmakers. “That being said, I would love for us to have a discussion about moving away from (average daily attendance) to average daily membership,” or the use of enrollment to determine funding. “Schools still have to accommodate the kids that have registered and have to pay the teachers for that number of children.”

The post Declining enrollment, increased absences threaten public school funding appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Yesterday’s insurrection failed to stop the election’s certification from occurring.

READ: Mississippi’s GOP congressmen voted to overturn Biden win in Arizona, Pennsylvania

The post Marshall Ramsey: At Dawn’s Early Light appeared first on Mississippi Today.

COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 3,255 new cases

By Mississippi Today | January 7, 2021

We are bringing you the latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs.

This page was last updated Thursday, January 6:

New cases: 3,255| New Deaths: 48

Total Hospitalizations: 1,495

Total cases:231,490 | Total Deaths: 5,061

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 78 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

All data and information reported by the Mississippi State Department of Health as of 6 p.m. yesterday

Weekly update: Wednesday, December 16

By Alex Rozier

On Tuesday Mississippi hit a new record with the seven-day average for cases, reaching 2,196. After going nine months without reporting 2,000 cases in a day, the state has reached that point nine times in just the 16 days of December so far. 

On Dec. 9, Mississippi also hit a new high for total hospitalizations on the rolling average, surpassing the summer peak. The state had already reached a new high for confirmed hospitalizations at the end of November, but hadn’t yet for the total tally, which includes suspected cases as well.

As seen in MSDH’s illness onset chart, the record for most illnesses in a day — Dec. 11, with 2,442 — is within the last two-week period, meaning those numbers could still go up.  

Mississippi’s present rise in cases mirrors the national surge, as the state currently has the 26th most new cases per capita. According to the Harvard Global Health Institute tracker, every state except Vermont is now in the “red zone” (recording over 25 daily new cases per 100,000 people). 

The health department reports that 148,466 people are presumed covered as of Dec. 13.

Click through the links below to view our interactive charts describing the trends around the coronavirus in Mississippi:

View our COVID-19 resource page for more information about coronavirus in Mississippi.

The post COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 3,255 new cases appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Reps. Trent Kelly, above, Michael Guest and Steven Palazzo backed the failed effort of lawmakers who aimed to overturn Biden’s victory. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

All three Mississippi Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives were among the several House Republicans on Wednesday to object to the certification of the electoral college votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania, states that duly elected Democrat Joe Biden as president in November over Republican President Donald Trump.

Reps. Trent Kelly, Michael Guest and Steven Palazzo — all ardent supporters of Trump — backed the failed effort of lawmakers who aimed to overturn Biden’s victory by pushing disproven theories and inaccuracies about Arizona and Pennsylvania botching the election process.

Mississippi’s Republicans were among 121 House Republicans who objected to the electoral vote of Arizona and among 138 House Republicans who objected to the Pennsylvania electoral vote.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi’s only Democrat in Washington, voted to certify all 50 states. Before their votes late Wednesday night, Kelly and Guest had previously acknowledged that Biden had won the election.

“The United States Constitution gives state legislatures the exclusive jurisdiction to determine how elections will be conducted, commonly referred to as the Electors Clause,” Guest said in a statement after the vote. “Simply put, these states failed to conduct elections that followed the requirements set up by their state legislatures and outlined in our Constitution.”

By Thursday morning, Kelly and Palazzo had not yet publicly justified why they voted the way they did.

In the Senate, Mississippi’s U.S. senators split in the electoral challenges. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith voted with the small minority to reject the votes of Arizona and Pennsylvania. Republican Sen. Roger Wicker voted with 94 of his colleagues to certify the results in all 50 states.

READ MORE: Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith supports losing effort to overturn Biden presidential victory.

“(The Trump) campaign lost a close election, and it is time to acknowledge that,” Wicker said in a statement earlier this week. “The president’s own attorney general, his head of election security, and a number of Trump-appointed, conservative federal judges all have found that, despite widespread allegations of fraud, there simply was not enough evidence to change the outcome of the election in any state.”

Wicker continued: “I know many of my fellow Mississippians will disagree with my decision, and I share their commitment to making sure our elections are fair. But I must vote according to my conscience, my oath of office, and my understanding of the rule of law. I hope that with the start of a new Congress, we can take steps to restore faith in America’s electoral system.”

Congress met in joint session on Wednesday and early Thursday to certify the electoral votes from the states. Biden, a Democrat, received 306 of the 538 elector votes from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Though the certification of the electoral votes from the states is normally a formality, the law allows Congress to reject them and theoretically select the new president.

Republicans did not have nearly enough votes in the House or Senate to reject the Biden election, and constitutional scholars questioned whether Congress could overturn the results in the first place.

A group of House and Senate Republicans — ardent supporters of Trump, who has for weeks pushed disproven theories about widespread election fraud — indicated last week they would challenge those electoral votes from certain states Biden won.

But the proceedings were abruptly halted on Wednesday afternoon when a violent mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, aiming to overturn the results of the election.

READ MORE: Pro-Trump mob storms U.S. Capitol, members of Congress evacuated.

The pro-Trump rioters — incited earlier Wednesday morning by the president’s oldest son and other close allies of the president — assaulted Capitol Police officers, smashed windows and tore down security barricades on their way into the building, prompting officials to lock down both legislative chambers of the building and nearby congressional office buildings.

The moment marked the first time that the Capitol was breached by a large, violent group since the War of 1812. Several high-profile members of Congress were evacuated, and others were told to shelter in place during the hours-long lockdown.

By the time police cleared the Capitol and lawmakers returned to finish the certification process on Wednesday evening, several of the Republicans in both the House and Senate who had earlier planned to object to elector certification reversed their positions.

Many Republicans even called Trump out specifically for inciting the violence.

“The events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors,” said Sen. Kelly Leoffler, a Republican from Georgia who’d previously planned to object. “The violence, the lawlessness… stand as a direct attack on the very institution my objection was intended to protect.”

The post Mississippi’s GOP congressmen voted to overturn Biden win in Arizona, Pennsylvania appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/ Report for America

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith voted to object to the electoral vote of Arizona on Wednesday.

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith was one of few U.S. senators on Wednesday to object to the certification of the electoral votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania, states that duly elected Democrat Joe Biden as president in November over Republican President Donald Trump.

Hyde-Smith, an ardent Trump supporter, backed the effort of a small number of Senate Republicans who aimed to overturn Biden’s victory by pushing disproven theories and inaccuracies about Arizona and Pennsylvania botching the election process.

The senator had remained silent before Wednesday about how she would vote on the certification of the Biden presidential victory in several states. In a statement on Wednesday night, Hyde-Smith said she heard from “many Mississippians who are troubled by the conduct of the election in various states and the eventual outcome.”

“I, along with my constituents, are alarmed with the erosion of integrity of the electoral process,” Hyde-Smith said in the statement. “The people I represent do not believe the presidential election was constitutional and cannot accept the electoral college decision; therefore, I cannot in good conscience support certification.”

All six senators who objected to the Arizona certification and the seven who objected to Pennsylvania on Wednesday night were Republicans and loyal supporters of the current president. The other senators voted to certify the elections, with key leaders in both the Republican and Democratic parties blistering their colleagues who planned to vote against certification.

“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. All I can say is count me out, enough is enough,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican. “When it’s over, it is over. It’s over.”

Republican Roger Wicker, Mississippi’s senior U.S. senator, voted to certify all 50 state results.

“(The Trump) campaign lost a close election, and it is time to acknowledge that,” Wicker said in a statement earlier this week. “The president’s own attorney general, his head of election security, and a number of Trump-appointed, conservative federal judges all have found that, despite widespread allegations of fraud, there simply was not enough evidence to change the outcome of the election in any state.”

Wicker continued: “I know many of my fellow Mississippians will disagree with my decision, and I share their commitment to making sure our elections are fair. But I must vote according to my conscience, my oath of office, and my understanding of the rule of law. I hope that with the start of a new Congress, we can take steps to restore faith in America’s electoral system.”

Congress met in joint session on Wednesday to certify the electoral votes from the states. Biden, a Democrat, received 306 of the 538 elector votes from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Though the certification of the electoral votes from the states is normally a formality, the law allows Congress to reject them and theoretically select the new president.

Republicans did not have nearly enough votes in the House or Senate to reject the Biden election, and constitutional scholars questioned whether Congress could overturn the results in the first place.

A group of House and Senate Republicans — ardent supporters of Trump, who has for weeks pushed disproven theories about widespread election fraud — indicated last week they would challenge those electoral votes from certain states Biden won.

But the proceedings were abruptly halted on Wednesday afternoon when a violent mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, aiming to overturn the results of the election.

READ MORE: Pro-Trump mob storms U.S. Capitol, members of Congress evacuated.

The pro-Trump rioters — incited earlier Wednesday morning by the president’s oldest son and other close allies of the president — assaulted Capitol Police officers, smashed windows and tore down security barricades on their way into the building, prompting officials to lock down both legislative chambers of the building and nearby congressional office buildings.

The moment marked the first time that the Capitol was breached by a large, violent group since the War of 1812. Several high-profile members of Congress were evacuated, and others were told to shelter in place during the hours-long lockdown.

By the time police cleared the Capitol and lawmakers returned to finish the certification process on Wednesday evening, several of the Republicans in both the House and Senate who had earlier planned to object to elector certification reversed their positions.

Many Republicans even called Trump out specifically for inciting the violence.

“The events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors,” said Sen. Kelly Leoffler, a Republican from Georgia who’d previously planned to object. “The violence, the lawlessness… stand as a direct attack on the very institution my objection was intended to protect.”

Many pundits believe Trump singlehandedly saved Hyde-Smith’s Senate candidacy in the 2018 special election after she said she would sit “on the front row of a public hanging” with a supporter. Trump hosted three Mississippi rallies for Hyde-Smith in 2018, when she narrowly won a special election to replace longtime Sen. Thad Cochran, who stepped down for health reasons.

The post Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith supports losing effort to overturn Biden presidential victory appeared first on Mississippi Today.