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Chief nursing officers from 36 hospitals across Mississippi are begging Gov. Tate Reeves and other state leaders for help as they stare down closing hundreds of hospital beds this winter due to ongoing labor shortages.

Their latest efforts to get the governor’s attention came in the form of a letter, signed by the nursing officers at three dozen Mississippi hospitals, that was sent to the state’s leaders on Friday.

Reeves, who has the sole authority to call lawmakers into a special session to address pressing matters, said weeks ago he was open to letting lawmakers address the nursing shortage in a special session that he would likely call for medical marijuana. But since then, the governor has remained silent about whether he will call a special session at all.

The nurses are not the only ones waiting to hear back from the governor. Speaker of the House Philip Gunn said he, too, has yet to hear back from the governor’s office about a bill that legislative leaders wrote weeks ago that would create a funding program to assist the state’s struggling hospitals.

“We sent the bill to the governor on Sept. 30,” Gunn said. “I have not heard anything from him or his staff about this bill, medical marijuana or anything else.” 

Gunn said the Senate and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann contributed to drafting the bill and agreed on the language.

“We had talked about (the nursing shortage) with the lieutenant governor and the speaker,” said Mississippi Hospital Association CEO Tim Moore. “But we couldn’t get any direct communication with the governor. So, we decided let’s just send a letter and let our nursing leaders be a part of that.” 

READ MORE: A new hospital crisis: Mississippi loses hundreds of nurses

Health care workers have been increasingly drawn away from traditional hospital jobs in favor of temporary jobs with staffing agencies that pay up to four times as much as Mississippi’s average nursing wages. This exodus has strained the state’s hospitals, which say they cannot adequately staff hospital beds.

Nurses say they need immediate help, like a bonus program for in-demand health care workers who agree to stay at Mississippi hospitals. Right now, the state has millions of dollars in federal funds available, but lawmakers cannot allocate that money unless called into special session by Reeves.

While the prospects of the Mississippi nursing crisis worsens, other states are using federal pandemic funds to address nursing and other health worker shortages. Louisiana, for example, has earmarked $5 million for a healthcare employment fund for paying nurses and helping nursing schools. Texas has earmarked $400 million of its federal funds for additional health care staffing.

In the Friday letter to state leaders, the nursing officers say Mississippi hospitals will close more than 500 beds this winter because there won’t be enough staff to cover them. 

“We write to both alert you to the forecasted bed capacity shortfalls for the upcoming months and to also stress the urgent need once again for state assistance in maintaining nursing staff,” says a copy of the letter obtained by Mississippi Today. 

On Oct. 31, federally-funded nurses who came to help through the delta wave left as their contracts expired. Nurses statewide immediately felt the fallout from losing the extra help. Even as COVID-19 cases decline, hospitals are still short on staff and more nurses continue to leave. 

Reeves made some comments about the shortage during a press conference on Monday. He said he would continue conversations with lawmakers about creating a retention program, but he talked more about investing in creating and educating more future nurses. 

Reeves’ office did not respond to requests for further comment about the possibilities of a bonus or retention program. 

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves dodging on promised special session

“This is a crisis that won’t wait until we have workforce development six months, a year from now,” said Susan Russell, Singing River Health System’s chief nursing officer. “People’s lives are being put into jeopardy right now.” 

Russell is one of the nurses who signed the letter to Reeves. She said the state needs both immediate and long-term plans to address the shortage.

“We need to have reward programs now,” Russell said. “Something that says we want you to stay in this state, we need you to stay in this state.”

Singing River, which has three hospitals on the Gulf Coast, has lost a dozen of its fully staffed hospital nurses in the last week alone. That’s in addition to the 73 temporary nurses that left following the end of their state-funded contracts. 

Singing River has put itself at the center of the nursing crisis, calling for the Legislature to use part of the $1.8 billion in American Rescue Plan funds given to the state to create $20,000 bonuses to be given to health care workers over two years. 

“I visited University of Mississippi Medical Center, Forrest General, Gulfport Memorial, and Singing River,” Gunn told Mississippi Today. “I saw with my own eyes the citizens who were in need of help. The motivation here (with this bill) is to help our citizens, to make sure they have health care available to them during this pandemic.” 

The bill that the speaker’s office and lieutenant governor’s office drafted doesn’t go as far as Singing River’s proposal. But it does call for $56 million of the federal rescue plan funds to allow Mississippi hospitals, long term care facilities and ambulance companies to give up to $5,000 in bonuses to those who agree to stay for a period of five months. 

The creation of any type of bonus program would require legislative approval, which cannot happen until January 2022 unless the governor calls a special session before then. Both Gunn and Hosemann have asked Reeves to call a special session to address COVID-19 concerns and the medical marijuana program.

Reeves has announced no plans to do that.

Nursing officers, like Russell, are panicked. They know contract nurses who are not tied down will likely opt out of contracts this holiday season to take a break. Some can afford to take months off, given the high wages they earned working as temp nurses with staffing companies.

Russell, who has spent 38 years in nursing at Singing River, has never seen anything like the current staffing crisis.

“Our hospitals are doing their best, but their funds are also limited, and the costs of labor has increased significantly,” the nurses wrote in their letter. “Such a program would demonstrate your commitment to and appreciation of those workers who have taken care of all of us during the pandemic. These are the workers who have healed and comforted over the last eighteen months and who will be relied upon to continue doing so in the months ahead.” 

The post Nurses beg Gov. Tate Reeves to act as they face statewide hospital staffing crisis appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves on Friday announced the filing of a lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees of companies that have contracts with the federal government.

The lawsuit, first filed by the Indiana attorney general, is joined by the attorney general from Louisiana and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Western District of Louisiana.

Reeves also promised he is working with Fitch to file another lawsuit challenging the president’ vaccine mandate for companies with 100 or more employees.

For much of the pandemic, Reeves imposed mask mandates and other mandates for large swarths of the state. But this past summer as the COVID-19 delta variant surged and overwhelmed hospitals, the Republican governor refused to impose any mandates even as Mississippi became the state with the highest fatality rate per capita from the coronavirus. Mississippi also is one of the nation’s least vaccinated states.

READ MORE: Reeves downplays Mississippi’s highest-in-nation COVID death rate

The lawsuit claimed Biden’s efforts at stemming the spread of COVID-19 are unconstitutional.

“The Biden regime has used World War II era procurement laws to impose a vaccine mandate on one-fifth of all Americans,” Reeves said in a statement. “The unprecedented and clearly unconstitutional contractor vaccine mandate is the desperate act of a fading tyrant frustrated by Americans exercising their fundamental rights of freedom and self-determination.”

READ MORE: Wicker, Hyde-Smith join other Mississippi Republicans in opposing Biden vaccine mandate

The mandate for private companies employing more than 100 people is based on provisions of law giving the federal government the authority to impose regulations to ensure worker safety.

The guidelines for the mandate allow exemptions for religious and health reasons.

Various Republican leaders nationwide have filed lawsuits and voiced opposition to the Biden mandate. Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn sent a letter to House members expressing his opposition.

“I believe strongly the government should not force any Mississippian to take the vaccine against his or her will,” the speaker wrote.

As political leaders of the state for multiple years, both Gunn and Reeves have been imposing vaccine mandates. For decades there have been multiple vaccine mandates in the country, including in Mississippi. Vaccines are mandated to enter secondary schools and universities. On the national level, the military for years has required vaccines and vaccines have been required for American citizens to travel to certain countries.

The post Mississippi joins other states suing over Biden vaccine mandate appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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Ninety-one percent of Jackson Public Schools employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 after the district set a deadline of Nov. 1 for staff to get the shots.

Of the district’s 3,468 employees, approximately 325 remain unvaccinated and are tested weekly, according to Sherwin Johnson, executive director of public engagement for JPS.

Just over half of Hinds County residents are fully vaccinated, according to the Mississippi Department of Health.

The Board of Trustees approved the policy in September, shortly after Natchez-Adams School District passed a vaccine incentive policy. That district also set a deadline of Nov. 1.

The JPS policy also says that if a fully vaccinated employee contracts COVID-19 that person will be entitled to paid leave. Unvaccinated employees will not receive that benefit unless they are legally exempt because of a medical issue or sincerely held religious belief, per federal law.

Several other school districts, such as Biloxi, Bay St. Louis-Waveland and Kosciusko are using federal COVID-19 relief funds to incentivize staff to get vaccinated but have stopped short of requiring the vaccination.

They all cited the loss of instructional time as a result of quarantining or sick teachers and students as one major reason for encouraging staff get vaccinated.

Jackson Public Schools and Natchez-Adams School District are the only districts the Mississippi Department of Education is aware of that have implemented such a requirement, according to Department spokeswoman Jean Cook.

The post Over 90 percent of employees in Jackson Public Schools fully vaccinated against COVID-19 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A little-known education board that oversees college financial aid in Mississippi has recently proposed a drastic overhaul of the state’s existing programs. 

In lieu of three separate programs, the Post-Secondary Board put forward a single program called the “Mississippi One Grant” that would award financial aid based on a student’s income and ACT score. 

Mississippi Today reviewed past conversations that led to this recent proposal, which is designed so that more students will qualify for financial aid, but it has raised concern among advocates for college access. Under the new program, the minimum ACT score that a student will need to qualify for any financial aid will be raised to 18 from the 15 that is currently needed to get the Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant. For students in a state that only recently cracked an average ACT score of 18, that’s a significant barrier. 

To the Post-Secondary Board, it’s simple economics: Raising the ACT score is one strategy to ensure the new program will stay in budget. 

And to Mark Keenum, the sole university president on the eight-member board, it is a way to ensure students with “true merit” have the best shot at attending Mississippi State University. 

At a Post-Secondary Board meeting recorded over Zoom in December 2020, Keenum articulated his vision for state financial aid during a discussion of how the programs should be rewritten: Too often, Mississippi’s financial aid programs go to poor, lower-performing kids and take money away from students with high ACT scores. 

“When you look at MTAG, the dollar amounts that are provided are so small,” Keenum said, “and, you know, a student can get an MTAG grant that has say maybe a 15 or 16 on their ACT, and they can come and bring those dollars to Mississippi State University.

“I’ll just tell all of you, that student does not need to come to Mississippi State University. But we’ve given funding, although a small amount, to that student, and we ought not do that,” he continued. “We urge students to not come here — if it’s a Mississippi student, I cannot turn them away under state law. They show up here with a 15 or 16 or 17 on their ACT and a 2.0 grade point average, barely get out of high school. They’re not a candidate to come to Mississippi State, but I can’t deny them enrollment. But we’ve given them funding to come to Mississippi State. We should not do that.” 

As currently written, Keenum continued, Mississippi’s financial aid programs don’t provide enough aid to students with higher ACT scores. If the state does not start providing more financial aid to “high-achieving” students, he said he feared they will go elsewhere for college. 

“I wish we could come up with a way that we could reward true merit across a wider spectrum than we do, all the way up to that 36-ACT student, who everybody in the country wants and who we desperately have got to keep in the state of Mississippi if we can,” he said. 

Keenum acknowledged the board needs to help working-class students in Mississippi, but the priority should be placed on retaining the best and the brightest. 

“We’re a poor state, and we’ve got the lowest per-capita income in the nation, and we’ve got just poor people, and they need help, and we need to do what we can to support them and give them opportunities in life,” he said. “Thank goodness there are federal aid programs that provide a lot of support.” 

Keenum is not alone in his desire to prioritize awarding financial aid to students with high ACT scores over addressing the needs of low-income students. The idea of using financial aid to reward “high-achieving” students has been popular since the 1990s when Georgia introduced the HOPE Scholarship. At an institutional level, public universities across the country have shifted their dollars to place a greater emphasis on awarding students with high ACT scores — the kind of students who are favored by rankings in U.S. News and World Report. 

Mississippi Today asked to interview Keenum for this story, but he was not available to comment before press time.

Many policymakers are starting to place a greater emphasis on equity when it comes to financial aid, said Tom Harnisch, the vice president for government relations at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. Does it make sense to award financial aid to students whose families can afford to pay for college? And what does “merit” mean in an unequal society? 

“The whole concept of merit can be very problematic,” Harnisch told Mississippi Today. “These can be students who go to K-12 schools with the most resources that may have parents who are very well-educated, and who may have had test prep for the ACT or other college entrance exams. The whole notion of calling it ‘merit-based aid’ can be problematic when you think about some of the privileges these students enjoyed.” 

Some states are charting a new path forward. Financial aid is increasingly seen as a tool to help states achieve certain workforce goals, said Frank Ballmann, the director of federal relations at the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs. 

Merit aid, on the other hand, tends to favor wealthier white students who can already afford to pay for college. Studies have shown that test scores tend to correlate with income. In Louisiana, a recent report found that the state’s merit grant funded tuition for 11,000 students whose families made more than $1 million a year. 

In Mississippi, financial aid is also disproportionately awarded aid to white, wealthier students. 

READ MORE: Most recipients of financial aid in Mississippi are from wealthier families

A key argument in favor of merit aid, which Keenum articulated at the December meeting, is that it can keep the best and brightest in state. There are some studies to support the idea that merit aid can stem brain drain. But it’s unclear if this is the case in Mississippi: A study from MSU research center NSPARC commissioned in 2018 found that the Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant did not increase in-state enrollment of high-achieving students.

No matter what the studies show, Keenum’s voice is powerful: Out of the eight public universities, MSU receives the largest chunk of state aid. It also has the most students attending on state financial aid. Keenum’s public opinions on financial aid hold a lot of sway — and what he advocates for will negatively affect working-class students, according to data from the Office of Student Financial Aid. 

READ MORE: Black, low-income students will lose thousands in college aid under proposed program

Under the “One Grant,” more state aid dollars will go to white students at the expense of their non-white peers, according to OSFA’s analysis. The average white student will receive $63 more than they would under the current system. The average Black student will lose out on $573 of state financial aid. 

Near the end of the December meeting, Jennifer Rogers, OSFA’s director, asked the board what role a student’s income should play in awarding merit aid. If a student meets the requirements for a merit scholarship, she asked, does the board want to award aid “regardless of your ability to pay, regardless of your financial situation?”

“Yeah, I don’t think we want to get into means-testing,” Keenum answered. “Unless we want, to just, to our higher achieving students, just say, well, good luck in Tennessee or Arkansas or wherever you go to school.”

“If our state is not willing to step up like many of our surrounding states are doing, and others, then we’re gonna be really losing ground from a merit standpoint,” he continued. “I support need—no question. But we’ve also got to support achievement and recognize that and make those investments. … We don’t have the resources to make up for what would be taken away if we eliminated merit-based, we don’t just have the resources.”

“Right, no,” Rogers quickly replied. “I’m not suggesting eliminating anything, I’m just, I’m—”

“But if we looked at well, you’re from a family whose annual income is at this level and because you’re so well-off, we can’t match the out of state opportunities that these students have,” Keenum said, shaking his head. “I can tell you, and I don’t think our friends and leaders in the Legislature want to hear from parents about that either. So, I don’t think that’s, when you get into means-testing, is something I’d like to see us go down that path.”

Rogers replied that if the board wants to expand merit aid to more ACT scores, it will be looking at “a lot more money” than is currently allocated. “I’m just trying to figure out … what that looks like from a cost-perspective, if there’s any parameters on that,” she said. “And I’m hearing that you’re saying, you wouldn’t say so.”

Jim Turcotte, the Post-Secondary Board chairman, cut in. 

“I don’t think this whole conversation is going like it needs to go,” he said, “so let me try to restate it here: Merit is merit. To quote Sharon Ross (another Post-Secondary Board member), ‘life is not fair.’” 

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that financial aid in general, not the HELP grant specifically, is disproportionately awarded to white, wealthier students.

The post Got a 17 on your ACT? Mark Keenum doesn’t want you at Mississippi State appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi Department of Health reported zero new COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, making Nov. 3 the first day since June 30 without a pandemic-related death in Mississippi. 

Though it’s just a single-day report, the announcement undoubtedly came as a relief to many living in the state with the highest COVID-19 death rate in the nation, which has lost one out of every 300 residents to the virus. In total, 10,134 Mississippians have died from COVID-19

If Mississippi were a country, it would have the third highest per capita death rate in the world, following only Peru and Bosnia.

The rate is even higher in some of Mississippi’s hardest-hit and least vaccinated counties, such as Neshoba County, which at one death per 141 residents has the highest death rate of any county in the nation.

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves says he and attorney general will sue over Biden vaccine mandate

Mississippi’s 7-day average for new infections (285) has dropped by 92% since the mid-August peak (3,586) of the Delta variant surge that saw the near-collapse of the state’s hospital system as they were overwhelmed by mostly unvaccinated patients. The rate of hospitalizations and deaths has followed this sharp downward trend. 

The biggest culprit for the incredible levels of sickness and death from COVID-19 that Mississippians have experienced is the state’s low vaccination rate, which at 46% is the fifth-lowest in the nation. 

READ MORE: Wicker, Hyde-Smith join other Mississippi Republicans in opposing Biden vaccine mandate

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Additional political leaders from Mississippi, the state with the nation’s highest COVID-19 fatality rate and one of the lowest vaccination rates, are joining the effort to halt President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate.

On the heels of the announcement of Gov. Tate Reeves that he and Attorney General Lynn Fitch expect to file a lawsuit this week in opposition to the mandate, Mississippi’s two U.S. senators announced Wednesday their intent to challenge the mandate.

U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, both Republicans, announced they are joining other Senate Republicans in a little-known process, a Congressional Review Act challenge, to try to overturn the mandate.

The portion of the mandate Wicker and Hyde-Smith are opposing, according to their news release, requires companies with 100 or more employees to require a COVID-19 vaccine for their workers. The guidelines for the mandate are expected to be released this week, according to news reports. The guidelines for other portions of the Biden vaccine mandate, requiring vaccines for employees of companies with federal contracts, provide exceptions for people on religious grounds and for health issues.

“The United States is not China or some other tyrannical country,” Hyde-Smith said in a statement. “President Biden exceeded his authority in his rush to force the vaccines on the American people. I believe the COVID-19 vaccine saves lives, but I also trust the American people to make the best medical decision for themselves and their families at this point in the pandemic.”

For decades there have been multiple vaccine mandates in the country, including in Mississippi. Vaccines are mandated to enter public schools and universities. On the national level, the military for years has required vaccines and vaccines have been required for American citizens to travel to certain countries.

What may be at issue is whether a president can unilaterally impose vaccine mandates. The mandate on the private companies is being done under authority the executive branch of government has to impose rules and regulations to ensure worker safety.

“President Biden’s unconstitutional federal vaccine mandates are an extreme abuse of power that puts Americans’ livelihoods in the crosshairs,” Wicker said. “In addition, the mandate threatens to wreck the economy.

“A large percentage of American workers will simply leave the workforce rather than be told what to do by the federal government. This legislation would overturn the president’s mandate on private employers and protect millions of hardworking Americans from an intrusion on their personal liberty.”

The challenge Wicker referenced is being done under the Congressional Review Act, which requires federal agencies to submit their regulations to Congress for oversight. The act allows Congress to vote to repeal any regulation it opposes by a simple majority vote. But before that repeal can go into effect, it must be signed by the president. If the president vetoes the act of Congress, it takes a two-third vote of both chambers to override the veto.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Congressional Review Act has been successfully used 17 times – 16 of those during the administration of President Donald Trump to overturn rules enacted during the tenure of Barack Obama.

On the state level, Rep. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville, has called on Gov. Tate Reeves to call a special session “to fight the Biden administration’s unconstitutional federal vaccine mandates and their plans to spy on American bank accounts.

“It may be a futile effort, but we must do everything we can to resist that which threatens freedom, liberty, and the Constitution.”

The post Wicker, Hyde-Smith join other Mississippi Republicans in opposing Biden vaccine mandate appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending that all children ages 5-11 get a low-dose Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

CDC director Rochelle Walensky issued the recommendation on Tuesday, just hours after the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices supported the use of the  pediatric vaccine in a unanimous vote. 

“Together, with science leading the charge, we have taken another important step forward in our nation’s fight against the virus that causes COVID-19,” Walensky said. “We know millions of parents are eager to get their children vaccinated and with this decision, we now have recommended that about 28 million children receive a COVID-19 vaccine. As a mom, I encourage parents with questions to talk to their pediatrician, school nurse or local pharmacist to learn more about the vaccine and the importance of getting their children vaccinated.”

The pediatric version of the Pfizer vaccine is one-third the adult dose, but is still given in two doses, three weeks apart like the adult formulation. Pfizer says the lower dosage was chosen to minimize side effects and many hope this will assuage skeptical parents. 

Though this age group is now eligible to receive the shots, they won’t be widely available in Mississippi until next week at the earliest. On Sunday, 16 CVS pharmacies across the state will begin providing vaccinations for this age group. 

The Mississippi Department of Health pre-ordered 50,000 doses of the pediatric vaccine after the Food and Drug Administration approved it under an emergency use authorization on Oct. 29. State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said that these doses and any further shipments will be distributed equitably to local partners and county health departments. 

“I think that there’s going to be broad availability for these vaccines for the parents that are interested in going ahead and getting their kids vaccinated right out of the gate,” Byers said. 

The federal government is shipping 15 million doses of the pediatric vaccine across the county this week, and President Joe Biden said that enough doses have been purchased to fully vaccinate every child in America. 

To date, 72,103 children ages 5-17 in Mississippi have contracted COVID-19 and six have died. Nationally, 1,997,660 children ages 5-11 have contracted COVID-19; 8,300 have been hospitalized and 172 have died, per CDC data. 

The post Children ages 5-11 are now eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. Shots will be widely available in Mississippi next week. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Rick and Tyler discuss all the latest developments in Mississippi’s high school and college football scene, as well as the Braves in the MLB World Series and the New Orleans Saints’ huge win over Tom Brady and the Bucs.

Stream all episodes here.

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