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On July 15, four professors from Mississippi State University sent a petition asking for a vaccine mandate, signed by hundreds of faculty, staff and students, to the State Institutions of Higher Learning, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, and Gov. Tate Reeves. 

A month later, it has been “a shocking silence,” said Andrea Spain, one of the four co-authors of the letter. “Not even an acknowledgement of receipt of the letter.” 

As the fall semester approaches, many faculty, staff and students at Mississippi’s public colleges and universities say this silence is emblematic of how state leadership at all levels has responded to the pandemic: Prioritizing politics and the economy over public health. 

Reeves, for his part, has said he has no intention of issuing a mask mandate in schools on the K-12 level. And though the Centers for Disease Control says that vaccinations are the “leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic,” he has stopped short of explicitly encouraging Mississippians to get vaccinated. On Monday, Reeves tweeted, “It was recently said nationally that the delta variant was becoming a ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated.’ The most recent data from Mississippi suggest the same. Talk to your doctor. Assess the risk. Do the right thing for you. Do the right thing for your family.” 

“The doctors have been talking all along: Dr. Dobbs has been talking, Dr. Fauci has been talking. They’re the experts and the scientists,” Alesha Russey, an instructor at University of Southern Mississippi’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, told Mississippi Today. “Leaders don’t say, ‘Do the right thing for you.’ That’s a selfish approach. Leaders would say, ‘Let’s do this for us.’” 

And the Institutions of Higher Learning, which oversees Mississippi’s eight public universities, has not released any public statements on how Mississippi’s universities should handle starting the fall semester amid the surging delta variant. The trustees haven’t met since June because, as it does most years, the board did not call a meeting in July. 

The sole piece of guidance Mississippi’s public colleges and universities have received came last week from the Mississippi Department of Health, which released a memo encouraging all colleges and universities to require masks, regardless of vaccination status, in all indoor facilities. It also encouraged universities to urge students to get vaccinated. 

Even though hundreds of universities across the country are requiring students to get the COVID-19 vaccine, with no state leadership pushing to do the same, Mississippi’s public colleges and universities are only asking students and faculty to wear masks in indoor facilities. 

This puts students and faculty in the position of having to advocate for stronger safety measures. 

“The only way to be truly safe is to do a vaccine mandate,” said Clark Hensley, a junior computer science major and chair of MSU’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America. “Not doing so leaves an opening for a potentially life threatening outbreak.” 

Last fall, all eight universities implemented comprehensive plans to keep faculty, staff and students safe: Courses were moved online, in-person class sizes were reduced, and the fall semester was shortened to prevent the spread of coronavirus during Thanksgiving break. Those measures were taken in part because the IHL convened a task force to create recommendations for the universities. 

“Honestly we did better than I thought we would last year,” said Joshua Sharp, an associate professor of pharmacology at University of Mississippi. “We actually were pretty responsive when it came to on-campus testing and quarantine policy seemed to do a pretty good job — not a great job, not a perfect job, but a pretty good job of managing outbreaks.” 

Many of those measures won’t be taken this semester, despite all-time high case numbers and a delta variant that is more prominent in college-aged people. 

With no uniform recommended plan, Mississippi’s public colleges and universities are responding to the rise in cases in a motley of ways. Some schools have adopted campus-wide mask mandates but are not requiring students to socially distance in classrooms or other campus facilities. At East Mississippi Community College, for example, “all meeting rooms, classrooms, open facilities, on-campus events, and auditoriums can resume 100% capacity,” according to a recent memo, though self-serve options will not be available in dining halls and “enhanced cleaning” of facilities is required. 

Other schools are trying to encourage students to get vaccinated by offering perks in lieu of a mandate. In Ellisville, students at Jones College who sign up to get vaccinated on campus will be entered into a raffle to win free or discounted tuition for one semester. 

USM has also announced a raffle program to incentivize students to get vaccinated in late July. Through the weekly drawings, students can win prizes ranging from a Barnes & Noble gift voucher or a parking decal to free fall tuition. 

“The best way for our students to stay healthy, stay connected, and stay in class this fall is by getting a COVID-19 vaccine,” said Dr. Dee Dee Anderson, USM’s vice president for student affairs. “I urge all of our students to do their part and get vaccinated for COVID-19 now, if they haven’t already done so.” 

But many faculty and staff at USM wish the administration would enact more safety protocols. 

Over the last couple weeks, representatives from USM’s faculty senate, staff councils and chapters of the American Association of University Professors met with President Rodney Bennett and other administration officials to advocate for more expansive safety protocols, such as mandating masks in all indoor facilities, requiring the COVID-19 vaccine once it receives full FDA approval and allowing faculty to change the delivery method of their courses as they deem fit. 

Yet when USM released its updated protocols on Aug. 4, it included just one of the coalition’s recommendations — wearing face masks. 

“We appreciate and are very much in support of the administration’s significant efforts to incentivize student vaccination, as well as the University’s efforts to combat misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and vaccinations,” Brian LaPierre, the president of USM’s faculty senate, wrote in an email to members. “We were disappointed, however, that the only Faculty Senate recommendation that was reflected in the revised protocols was the requirement of face coverings.” 

Following another virtual meeting, Bennett last Thursday agreed to let faculty aged 65 and older teach online “for a few weeks,” Denis Weisenberg, president-elect of USM’s faculty senate, told Mississippi Today.  

At University of Mississippi, Sharp, the professor of pharmacology, said faculty has received few campus-wide communications about what the administration is doing to keep staff and faculty safe. He received a notice that the school would be temporarily requiring masks as well as one from Dean Noel Wilkins, informing faculty they could only switch their courses to online with special permission from their department chair. 

Meanwhile, COVID cases continue to rise, and school starts in 11 days. 

“As we come back, we were all hoping that this was behind us,” Sharp said, “but the recent surge in cases has made it clear it’s not.” 

“There is still time to turn it around,” he added, “and I know that there are various faculty and administrators working and talking about what kind of response we can have — but ultimately the power lies in the hands of the administrators and the policies they decide to implement.” 

The post ‘The only way to be truly safe’: Students, faculty urge colleges to require the COVID shot as officials look to incentives appeared first on Mississippi Today.

After a 2020 Mississippi football season of mostly empty stadiums, schedule changes, postponements, cancellations and more, it looked as if we might have a more normal 2021. The delta variant has changed that, and we may be in for a wild ride.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: COVID delta variant threatens football appeared first on Mississippi Today.

As Mississippi’s top medical professionals worked to sound the alarm on Wednesday about an imminent failure of the state’s hospital system due to the surging COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Tate Reeves downplayed the severity of the situation and urged Mississippians to “remain calm.”

The contrast in approaches on Wednesday is illustrative of the gulf between the crisis at hand and the government’s lack of response to it. And at the worst moment so far of the pandemic, all Mississippians — COVID-stricken or otherwise — may soon not have adequate hospital care at their disposal.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center is so overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients during the state’s worst wave of cases that it is constructing a field hospital in a parking garage to increase capacity.

The state’s largest medical center, completely out of staffed intensive care unit beds, is just one of the many medical facilities across the state on the verge of collapse as the delta variant causes a level of need the state’s healthcare workers cannot meet.

“If we track back a week or so when we look at the case positivity rate, the rate of new cases, the rate of hospitalizations — if we continue that trajectory within the next five to seven to 10 days, I think we’re going to see failure of the hospital system in Mississippi,” Dr. Alan Jones, UMMC associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs, said during a press conference on Wednesday.

Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC’s vice chancellor, called the field hospital “a Band-Aid,” noting it as a helpful but limited addition to the hospital’s toolkit. It will be able to host a maximum of 50 COVID-19 patients, and UMMC expects the federal government to send between 30-35 medical professionals to staff it. 

The current COVID-19 crisis is, for the most part, not one for lack of hospital beds and ventilators, but of staff. Mississippi has around 2,000 fewer nurses working than it did a year ago, and every hospital in the state is feeling that strain. Lee McCall, CEO of Neshoba County General Hospital, tweeted a desperate plea for help to Gov. Reeves on Tuesday, saying the hospital’s staff “are all at our breaking point.”

Meanwhile, Reeves took to social media on Wednesday to break his lengthy silence on the pandemic, providing an update on actions being taken across the state to address the COVID crisis. This includes the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency requesting that other states help supply Mississippi with healthcare workers, and pursuing contracts with private companies for travel nurses.

“My number one goal from day one of this pandemic has always been to protect the integrity of our health care system,” Reeves said in a social media post. 

In his post, Reeves also attempted to downplay the severity of the crisis — laid out bluntly by the state’s top medical professionals on Wednesday — by claiming that the situation in Mississippi hospitals is no worse than it was a year ago.

Reeves claimed that Mississippi’s total number of hospitalizations “remain below where they were at our peak from August of 2020.” This is false. In August 2020, COVID-related hospitalizations peaked at 978. As of Tuesday, that number was 1,378.

Reeves also claimed that Mississippi’s total number of patients in ICU beds remains “at or near our peak levels from August of 2020.” This is also false. In August, the number of COVID patients in ICU beds peaked at 337. As of Tuesday, that number was 388.

When asked about these discrepancies during a press conference Wednesday afternoon, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs confirmed that daily hospitalizations are higher than ever and “undeniably going to be increasing.” 

Reeves also addressed the shortage of healthcare workers in his post, attributing it to layoffs by hospitals and disgruntled employees resigning over vaccine mandates. While a small number of healthcare workers may have resigned due to vaccine mandates, it is dwarfed by the number who have left due to burnout or to pursue higher paying jobs in other states. 

It is also worth noting that while several hospitals have announced vaccine mandates for their employees, none are currently implemented. Woodward said on Wednesday that UMMC has not seen a loss of staff due to its vaccine mandate, the first of its kind in the state, which will not go into effect until the vaccine receives full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

“That doesn’t mean we won’t (lose staff). I hope that we don’t,” Woodward said. “At this point in time, that’s not a factor.” 

Health experts continue to stress that being fully vaccinated is the only adequate protection against COVID-19. Though Mississippi’s vaccination rate has increased significantly in recent weeks, it still lags behind 48 other states. 

Dobbs expressed his frustration with those declining the protection offered by COVID vaccines on Wednesday, noting that they are driving the surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths that has brought the state’s healthcare system to its knees. 

“I kind of personally feel like I’m an air traffic controller, and every day I’m watching two airliners collide,” Dobbs said.

The post Mississippi’s hospital system could fail within 5-10 days. Gov. Tate Reeves says to ‘remain calm.’ appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gulf Coast business and casino leaders are doing what Mississippi government leaders have not: They are working to create a vaccine lottery-like program.

Several prominent Gulf Coast businesspeople are pooling resources in efforts to create a program that would offer vaccinated Mississippians a chance to win cash or other prizes. Mississippi, which ranks 48th for its vaccination rate in the nation, would join dozens of other states in having similar programs.

“We believe time is of the essence,” said Ashley Edwards, the president of the Gulf Coast Business Council. “So we’re quickly trying to do work that should take months and do it in weeks, days.”

Organizers say they are confident they will be able to offer prizes — likely cash — eligible only to vaccinated Mississippians. The program funds are being collected through the nonprofit Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Leaders from Hancock, Harrison and Jackson have been involved so far.

Governors across the nation have created similar incentive programs in efforts to raise vaccination rates. Gov. Asa Hutchinson offered Arkansans a free lottery ticket or $20 voucher from the state Game and Fish Commission to get the shot.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson launched a cash lottery program for vaccinations this week. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan sponsored one earlier this year. New Jersey awarded a dinner at the governor’s mansion as a vaccine raffle prize. West Virginia awarded cash prizes as well as lifetime fishing and hunting licenses. At least a dozen states, including Louisiana, have offered seven-figure prizes.

Meanwhile, Reeves has received criticism for being too hands-off in recent weeks as health care experts plead with residents to get vaccinated.

READ MORE: Hospitals pushed to brink as delta variant hits Mississippi ‘like a tsunami’

LuAnn Pappas, the CEO of the Scarlet Pearl casino resort, is no stranger to taking COVID-19 awareness and incentives into her own hands. As of Wednesday, about 700 of 800 employees at her D’Iberville casino were vaccinated. Pappas offers cash bonuses up to $300 and has on-site vaccine clinics.

Still, she was surprised it was local leaders — not a state-led effort — who reached out to her for help. Pappas said she donated $50,000 to the vaccine lottery program.

“The state did lead in rolling out the vaccination,” Pappas said. “But then we just kind of stalled and we stopped.”

As of Wednesday, Mississippi’s overall vaccination rate was about 35%. But the vaccine rate for south Mississippi — the state’s tourism hub, churning out millions in economic impact every month from both gaming revenue and sales tax — has consistently been below the state average. Only a little over 33% of the three Gulf Coast counties have been fully vaccinated so far, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“When I saw the rates, I thought no, no,” said Paige Roberts, the president of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. “The Coast leads in so many efforts in Mississippi. We can’t have this… If we can move the needle in the three coastal counties, we are then helping the state move the needle.”

When Pappas first required vaccinations of her salaried staff, she made more than 50 phone calls to employees who were against the vaccine. Out of all her supervisors, vice presidents and other professional staff members, only two have not been vaccinated yet. 

Soon, she will require hourly staff to be vaccinated, as well. She said she has seen in her own employees what creativity and persistence, as well as compassion and patience, can accomplish when tackling vaccine rates.

The Gulf Coast program wouldn’t be the first time private companies offered vaccine incentives to the public during the pandemic. But private companies — such as Kroger or United Airlines — have opened their sweepstakes or freebies to all their customers, reaching across several states if not the whole country. 

The south Mississippi effort is hyper-local and seeking partnerships with state agencies, including the Mississippi State Department of Health. It’s unique compared to similar incentive programs in that it will likely be a partnership between private and public entities. 

Edwards hopes other regions, or even the state, could use whatever the group comes up with as a model.

While the Gulf Coast program organizers’ chief concerns are the health of their community — the health of the local economy is at stake, too.

The Gulf Coast was a bright spot in the state’s pandemic recovery. Over the last several months, Mississippi casinos have continued to break gaming revenue records. Casinos had hit their stride in offering something to do during the pandemic in an environment that made customers feel safe, according to local operators. 

Pappas said she cannot think of a single casino that wouldn’t want to participate in the program once it’s formalized. 

“We are trying to sustain the economic momentum we were experiencing prior to the Delta variant outbreak,” Edwards said. “We’re taking measures today to try to ensure that we don’t find ourselves in this situation again.” 

Pappas said she is tired of seeing Mississippi at the “bottom of the pack” in vaccine rates. She’s scared for the children under 12 who cannot be vaccinated and for the stressed and overworked hospital staff caring for an influx of unvaccinated patients.

“The ripple effect is devastating,” she said.

She hopes the lottery gets everyone’s attention — especially those with the means and influence, like herself, to do something to encourage vaccine use.

The post Gulf Coast business leaders, not the state, working to create vaccine lottery program appeared first on Mississippi Today.

We have spiking numbers of cases because of the highly contagious delta variant. ICUs are full. The hospital system is being stressed to the ninth degree. I’m not sure why the Governor said he’d reveal if he’d extend the state of emergency or not in 48 hours, but he did. Maybe it was to build tension like they do on TV? I have no idea. But to deny this is an emergency would be political malpractice.

The post Marshall Ramsey: The Plug appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Disability Rights Mississippi filed a class action lawsuit Monday against the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Commissioner Burl Cain and the department’s contracted medical provider VitalCore Health Strategies, alleging “inhumane and discriminatory conditions and practices in correctional facilities.”

The lawsuit stated MDOC and VitalCore do not provide adequate medical and mental health care to people in prison, and they fail to provide people with disabilities in prison with proper accommodations and services “to which they are entitled under the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

Disability Rights Mississippi is a federally mandated nonprofit corporation that advocates for people with disabilities. The organization’s lawsuit detailed the experiences of 31 men and women with disabilities in prisons across Mississippi, including Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl, Wilkinson County Correctional Facility in Woodville, Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville, George County Correctional Facility in Lucedale and the private prison East Mississippi Correctional Facility in Meridian.

“After years of monitoring visits, meetings with clients, and an intense year-long investigation, we can say with absolute certainty. People with disabilities who are incarcerated in Mississippi are suffering under the hand of the Mississippi Department of Corrections,” DRMS executive director Polly Tribble said in a statement.

One man in prison at CMCF in Pearl was held in solitary confinement 30 days after he made repeated requests for medical care and medication for a spinal injury which limits his mobility, requiring him to use a wheelchair, the lawsuit stated. While in solitary confinement, he was denied a shower for nearly three days, according to the lawsuit.

Another woman in CMCF who gave birth while in prison suffered a uterine prolapse, which now requires additional medical equipment, medical treatment and additional undergarments, all of which MDOC and VitalCore have refused to provide, the lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuit stated people in prison have been denied medical care, treatment and adequate assistance for issues related to bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, asthma, blindness, congestive heart failure, diabetes, prostate cancer, multiple sclerosis and many other chronic illnesses and disabilities.

“(MDOC and VitalCore) have failed to provide adequate care in approving medications, equipment, and treatment for those who are in their custody. Their practice of ignoring and/or refusing ‘sick calls’ and delaying outside appointments and follow-up examinations have resulted in worsening health conditions, further injury/sickness, and even deaths of MDOC inmates. The State of Mississippi pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to VitalCore for the provision of medical care to MDOC facilities. But, the result is questionable, at best,” the lawsuit stated.

The lawsuit also stated MDOC and VitalCore have “systematically discriminated” against people with disabilities in prison by not providing accessible facilities, safe environments, adequate services and programming for incarcerated people with disabilities. MDOC staff have often retaliated against and intimidated people with disabilities in prison, the lawsuit alleged.

“Offender(s)…who require the use of wheelchairs often are forced to pay other able-bodied offenders to assist them in navigating the bathroom/shower area,” the lawsuit stated.

The lawsuit requests that the court order MDOC and VitalCore to provide relief by increasing adequate correctional, medical, dental and mental health staffing, regularly screening for and responding to medical and mental health issues and offering appropriate accommodations for people with disabilities in prison.

“As Mississippi’s protection and advocacy agency for individuals with disabilities, DRMS is responsible for protecting the rights of all Mississippians with disabilities. And when we say all, we mean it,” Tribble said in the statement.

MDOC Assistant Deputy Commissioner Leo Honeycutt said the department cannot comment on pending litigation.

The post Disability rights group sues MDOC for ‘inhumane and discriminatory’ prison conditions appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Thousands of teachers and state employees may lose the ability to get paid leave for COVID-19 absences. The program the state uses to assess hospital bed space in real time to provide adequate care for patients may be dismantled. The National Guard, an integral piece to the state’s vaccine and testing rollout during its busiest peaks, may no longer be available to assist.

Even as new COVID-19 cases set daily and weekly records, and hospital intensive care units and emergency rooms fill up across Mississippi, all this and more could become a reality on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. if Gov. Tate Reeves lets his state of emergency order expire as planned.

Issuing states of emergency — which effectively provide legal framework for extraordinary government actions to be carried out — is one of the governor’s most direct powers in Mississippi.

Reeves’ announcement that he would let the current state of emergency order expire came on June 18, when daily COVID-19 cases were low and the state’s hospitals were not overwhelmed.

“I want to thank all Mississippians for their sacrifices over the past 15 months,” Reeves said in a news release on June 18, 2021. “Your actions resulted in a significant decline of COVID-19 cases and allowed our state to effectively manage the impacts of the virus… While a state of emergency should no longer be necessary after Aug. 15, all Mississippians should remain vigilant, get vaccinated and follow public health guidance.”

Because no end date was included in the original order, it is believed that the governor will have to issue a separate proclamation to terminate the current state of emergency.

This week, as the pandemic reaches its worst point since it began, the governor’s office did not respond to multiple questions from Mississippi Today about whether he is reconsidering terminating the executive order. But on Wednesday afternoon, Reeves said on social media he was considering whether to extend the emergency order.

“We are discussing our options on the State of Emergency and will make a final decision within the next 48 hours on whether or not it needs to be extended,” Reeves said on Wednesday.

READ MORE: Hospitals pushed to brink as delta variant hits Mississippi ‘like a tsunami’

In March 2020, as the coronavirus first began to overwhelm the nation, Reeves issued orders establishing a committee, led by State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, to combat COVID-19. A few days later on March 14, 2020, he issued the first COVID state of emergency.

That original state of emergency order allowed Reeves and Dobbs to issue dozens of executive orders related to the pandemic, ranging from imposing mask mandates to closing businesses and other activities to limiting crowd capacities at various venues.

Since March 4, 2020, Reeves has issued at least 78 executive orders and supplements to executive orders related to the coronavirus — most of them legally allowable because of the state of emergency. Reeves issued executive orders that made it easier for jobless Mississippians to apply for unemployment benefits, and provided health care workers more protection from lawsuits while dealing with the coronavirus.

The state of emergency order also granted Dobbs the power to issue his own health-related orders, including requiring quarantine for infected or exposed Mississippians, requiring hospitals to participate in a state-run program that allows real-time tracking of hospital bed space, and requiring school districts to report their COVID-19 infection data the Mississippi State Department of Health.

Most of these executive orders had start and end dates. But the original state of emergency order did not include an end date, which makes Reeves’ announcement of the Aug. 15 expiration particularly meaningful.

Among the actions that could expire if Reeves rescinds the state of emergency are:

• The authority for state agencies to provide paid administrative leave for public employees for various reasons related to COVID-19, such as an employee contracting the virus or being quarantined or caring for a loved one with the virus.
• The authority of counties, municipalities and local school districts to offer paid administrative leave to their employees related to COVID-19 absences.
• Dobbs’ authority to mandate that all the state’s hospitals coordinate with the state Department of Health to assess bed space in real time and provide adequate care for the state’s hospital patients.
• The activation of the Mississippi National Guard to assist with COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, among other duties.

Existing law allowed state agencies to offer paid leave only while under a state emergency. In the 2020 session, the Legislature passed a bill signed into law by the governor to give local governments and school districts the same authority.

Pete Smith, a spokesperson in the Mississippi Department of Education, said his agency has been in communication with the governor’s office about possible negative consequences of lifting the state of emergency order at this point related to teachers and other school district personnel.

It is not completely clear what other government activities will be impacted by the possible expiration of the state of emergency order on Sunday, but several government leaders are worried that it could have dire consequences.

Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for University of Mississippi Medical Center, said she is concerned that the expiration of the emergency order will diminish the authority of Dobbs in some ways, namely his ability to mandate that hospitals coordinate under MSDH’s COVID-19 System of Care Plan. In its current form, the System of Care Plan prioritizes all Mississippi hospitals’ inpatient hospital beds and other resources for COVID-19 patients who require admission.

Woodward said she has been unable to get a clear answer as to how the expiration of the order would impact Dobbs’ authority over hospitals — at a time when every hospital in the state is overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

“Without that in place, the transfer and the management of these patients at a statewide level would be not as organized, it would be more chaotic and more ad hoc,” Woodward said.

The state of emergency order also gave Reeves and Dobbs the authority to delay all elective procedures that require overnight hospitalization so the hospitals can use all available resources to focus on COVID-19 patients.

Dobbs said that if state of emergency expires, MSDH will build a new order that “references the independent power of the State Department of Health.”

The Mississippi National Guard, first activated by Reeves in March 2020 to assist with the pandemic response, has not been administering vaccines or COVID-19 tests since mid-July. But under the state of emergency, the Guard could be mobilized for any reason. As cases skyrocket and the state is mulling setting up field hospitals to care for the influx of patients, the Guard being on standby could be vital to the next few weeks.

In the early days of the pandemic, the Guard delivered PPE across the state. Later, they set up mobile testing and vaccination sites that were widely regarded by medical professionals and government leaders. If the state of emergency order expires this week, Reeves would have to issue new orders to activate the Guard to assist with the pandemic.

Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs said the governor’s decision will not impact the ability of local governments to issue their own executive orders, such as to impose mask mandates.

“We are given our own authority in state law,” said Flaggs, who recently issued a mandate for city workers to mask up under certain circumstances and is in the process of imposing a mask mandate for the entire city. “We won’t be affected by what the governor does.”

Flaggs said under state law, a mayor or president of a board of supervisors can issue states of emergency, but they must be ratified within five days by the city council or board of aldermen or by the county board of supervisors.

But Flaggs said there are questions in the law. There are questions about whether a municipality or county, for instance, can impose a mask mandate on local school districts within their borders.

“There are areas the Legislature needs to address,” Flaggs said. “If not, we are going to be dealing with a political tango, and people are going to die because of it.”

The post Leaders fear what could happen if Reeves ends state of emergency on Sunday as planned appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The lead Senate and House negotiators working on a Mississippi medical marijuana program to replace the one shot down by the state Supreme Court say they’re close to having a draft that could prompt a special legislative session, as early as this month.

“I believe we have basically most of the major issues resolved,” said Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, who’s leading the Senate’s medical marijuana work. “… We’re very, very close.”

Rep. Lee Yancey, R-Brandon, said, “I would be surprised if there were not a special session soon, but that’s not my call … I think at some point soon we will be ready to say to the governor that we have something we can work with.”

Mississippi lawmakers are trying to reach consensus on a medical marijuana program after the state Supreme Court shot down one overwhelmingly passed by voters last year with ballot Initiative 65. The state Supreme Court ruled in May that the medical marijuana initiative and the entire ballot initiative process is invalid.

Gov. Tate Reeves has sole authority to call lawmakers into a special session. He has said he would do so for a medical marijuana bill, but not before the House and Senate have general agreement on a proposal to avoid a long, drawn out session.

Blackwell and Yancey had previously estimated a session could be called by mid-August. They said that might be pushed back, but that having one before the end of the month is still doable.

Neither Blackwell nor Yancey would provide specifics of agreements they’ve reached on taxation, licensing and other particulars of a program.

“I think we owe it to other legislators to let them have a chance to view and vet what we have worked on to this point,” Yancey said. “Each of us will have to get consensus to get 3/5 passage in both houses. We are cognizant of how important this is, that there are those our there who need this medication, and we are trying to put together a program we can be proud of — and know that we will have to tweak it year to year — but trying to get it as good as we can on the first push.”

Blackwell said: “They don’t have a program right now, and I think we are going to give them a program that is better than the one from Initiative 65.”

Ken Newburger, director of the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association, said he’s been in contact with Blackwell and Yancey, and is likewise confident an agreement, and a special session, will happen soon. Newburger said he believes lawmakers have taken input from medical marijuana advocates, patients and business leaders.

“I think that’s been the most refreshing and surprising part of this whole legislative process, has been the willingness of the legislators in both chambers to reach out to people who have been advocating it, and patients who have been advocating it for years,” Newburger said.

Newburger said his association has four main points it wants lawmakers to retain from the defunct Initiative 65:

• To allow broad patient access to various forms — smokable, edibles, pills, etc. — of cannabis products with varying levels of THC, the psychoactive agent in marijuana.

• For certification of patients to remain in the hands of doctors, not “some bureaucratic system.”

• For cultivation and dispensing of cannabis to be a “free market enterprise” that allows broad participation and doesn’t limit businesses with exorbitant fees and license costs.

• That the program be self-funded, that fees collected for the program fund it.

Newburger said he is optimistic lawmakers will work to enshrine these tenets of Initiative 65 into a new law.

Yancey said he believes the House will work to hew as closely to the voter-passed initiative as possible.

The post Lawmakers ‘very, very close’ to medical marijuana deal appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Just as it did last school year, the Mississippi State Department of Health is releasing weekly data on coronavirus infections in schools.

Though both public and private schools in all 82 counties are required to submit weekly reports to MSDH, many do not. Because this data is self-reported and not every school or district participates, the figures are variable from week to week.

These reports contain data about how many students, teachers and staff tested positive for the virus. The reports also show how many people are in quarantine in a given week, as well as how many outbreaks occurred at a school.

Mississippi Today will update this page regularly with the weekly data provided by the health department.

Despite a small number of schools participating so far this year, the numbers are grim.

This week, 342 schools reported 1,338 cases among students, teachers and staff so far this school year. For reference, in the first week MSDH reported data in August 2020, 720 schools reported just 897 positive cases.

For general COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates, as well as testing data charts and other helpful interactive maps and graphs, click here.

The post Chart: COVID-19 in Mississippi schools, 2021-22 school year appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Please get vaccinated. It is safe. It is free. And it can save your life.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Prey appeared first on Mississippi Today.