Rising coronavirus cases in Mississippi have caused even further delays in the state court system. Earlier this month, the Mississippi Supreme Court extended a COVID-19 emergency administrative order, allowing judges to postpone trials through Oct. 8.
When the order was originally signed in August, it gave judges the ability to postpone trials through Friday, Sept. 10, to protect against the spread of COVID-19. As the delta variant continues to spread rapidly across the state, the Mississippi Supreme Court chose to continue the emergency administrative order past September and into October.
“Because there has been no discernible reduction in the number of COVID-19 cases reported daily by the Mississippi Department of Health since Emergency Administrative Order-21 was filed, in my capacity as chief administrative officer of all courts in the state, I find that Emergency Administrative Order-21 should be extended,” Chief Justice Michael Randolph wrote in a memo announcing the order extension.
In August, Mississippi saw the highest numbers of reported COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in March 2020, and nearly 1,000 Mississippians died due to complications caused by COVID-19 in August. Between low vaccination rates and the raging delta variant, August was Mississippi’s darkest month of the coronavirus pandemic.
As a response to this, the Mississippi Supreme Court is not only allowing judges to delay trials until Oct. 8, but judges can also delay jury summonses until Oct. 11 and modify drug testing and home supervision until Oct. 8.
“From the onset of the national and state emergencies created by Coronavirus (COVID-19) in March 2020, the Court has issued a series of Emergency Administrative Orders to address the changing circumstances and the evolving guidance provided by health authorities…the Court has sought to properly balance individual rights, public health and safety, and the constitutional requirement that Mississippi state courts remain open and accessible,” Randolph wrote.
The Mississippi Department of Education on Thursday issued a letter to school administrators giving them the go-ahead on financial payouts to teachers and staff members who get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Some school districts were waiting on guidance from the state education department to move forward with plans to use federal COVID-19 relief funds to incentivize teachers and staff to be vaccinated with up to $1,000 payments.
“MDE hopes the vaccine incentive opportunity will help get more people vaccinated so students can continue in-person learning with fewer disruptions,” a statement from Jean Cook, the spokesperson for MDE, said. “Teacher and student absences due to COVID-19 exposure and infection interrupt teaching and learning.”
The letter from Judy Nelson, executive director of the Office of Federal Programs in MDE, says districts may incentivize vaccinations if they have local board approval prior to implementing the incentives. The district must also establish a written procedure for determining the allowability of costs and “to maintain effective internal control over the Federal award.”
The guidance also says the amount must be reasonable, which it characterizes as an amount ranging from $100 to $1,000.
“LEAs (local education agencies) shall be prepared to document what is considered reasonable,” it states.
School districts in Biloxi, Kosciusko and Bay St. Louis-Waveland all planned to use these funds for an incentive program. Their goal is to have a higher percentage of teachers and staff vaccinated to help continue in-person school and decrease absences.
“It will hopefully save me on substitute teacher costs and wasting instructional time and the time of assistant teachers — not to mention the loss of instruction,” Biloxi Superintendent Marcus Boudreaux said.
Biloxi, like several other districts across the state, is facing a major shortage of available substitute teachers to cover classes for teachers who are out sick with COVID-19 or quarantined, in addition to non-pandemic related absences.
Districts are planning to use funds from the most recent federal coronavirus relief bill, the American Rescue Plan, to pay for the incentives. The U.S. Congress passed the bill in March, and it sent a total of around $1.6 billion to schools in Mississippi.
Biloxi received around $18.3 million of those funds, while Kosciusko got $7.3 million and Bay St. Louis-Waveland got around $6.6 million. The money can be used for an array of purposes, from purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean buildings to training and professional development for teachers and staff, in addition to purchasing educational technology and providing mental health supports for students.
ESSER funds may be used for vaccination outreach efforts, which “could include activities to create awareness and build confidence, facilitate clinics, and provide incentives … for staff to get vaccinated,” a U.S. Department of Education document states.
Natchez-Adams School District recently approved a plan that would offer incentives to employees who get vaccinated and require those who don’t to submit to twice-weekly testing. It is not clear what funds they are using to support that program.
Abortion-rights activists in Mississippi are troubled by the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed a Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy to go into effect last week, but they are not surprised.
Now, they’re preparing for an upcoming Mississippi case that could put the United States in a post Roe v. Wade world.
“Mississippi, we are the testing grounds. I can’t believe Texas beat us to the punch on this one,” Derenda Hancock, co-founder of We Engage, a Jackson-based advocacy group that confronts anti-abortion protesters.
The Texas law is the most restrictive pre-viability ban — a law that prohibits access to abortion based on the amount of time pregnant before the fetus is viable, or around 24 weeks when it is able to live outside the womb — that has been allowed to star in effect post-Roe.
Mississippi’s fetal heartbeat law was blocked by an appellate court in 2019 due to it violating Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed pregnant people have a constitutional right to receive an abortion.
The Texas law is novel in that there were no defendants for abortion-rights groups to sue in attempts to block the law, as all state officials were prohibited from enforcing it. Instead, Texas deputized private citizens to enforce the ban, enabling them to sue an abortion provider who violated the law, or anyone involved in aiding or abetting someone in obtaining the procedure. Any successful case under the new law will net the plaintiff a $10,000 bounty and attorneys fees.
Though Texas groups hope to successfully challenge the law in state court, Mississippi groups are preparing for the law to be replicated here during the 2022 legislative session, where it would likely pass.
“We know that what starts in Texas doesn’t stop there, just as what starts in Mississippi impacts the nation,” the Mississippi Abortion Access Coalition said in a statement. “Texas recycled this abortion ban from others and the individual enforcement mechanism here could easily spread to other states during future legislative sessions.”
Tyler Harden, Mississippi state director of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said that they’ve been preparing for this moment since Donald Trump was elected president, promising to appoint judges that would overturn Roe.
“We’re in a space where our legislature is just so hostile. We’re fighting abortion bans every year. And I think, because of that, we were able to be intuitive about where we’re headed,” Harden said.
Mississippi’s Legislature has already passed six- and 15-week abortion bans that were struck down by appellate courts. A 20-week ban is currently enshrined in state law, as it has not been challenged in court. The case before the Supreme Court will consider Mississippi’s 15 week ban, passed in 2018.
Advocates say they’re getting ready to work in a Mississippi where women not only lack access to safe abortions, but are jailed for getting the procedure.
“We anticipate that criminalization for people seeking out abortion will be something that we have to work with local prosecutors and local government to prevent to make sure that people are able to make the choices that they need from themselves,” Harden said.
Hancock said that simply overturning Roe won’t be enough for a large swath of anti-abortion activists in Mississippi. One side of the movement wants to work within the system, and is happy with the extent of the Texas law, she said. Another believes that life starts at conception and want to see abortion banned completely and harshly prosecuted.
The Mississippi case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear in the fall — Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — centers on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, passed by state lawmakers in 2018 and immediately blocked by lower federal courts. The case will provide one of the first reproductive rights cases argued before the Supreme Court since Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in 2020. Many pundits believe that the 6-3 conservative majority will curtail access to abortion or overturn Roe entirely.
In the meantime, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s sole abortion clinic, is still providing abortions up to 16 weeks of pregnancy. Immediately after the Texas law went into effect, the clinic was inundated with calls from pregnant people in Texas, hoping to travel to the Magnolia State to seek an abortion.
“I’m sure we’ll have an influx of people from there, not that we can handle any more patients,” Hancock said. “They (JWHO) are booked, pretty much two weeks ahead.”
While time and the courts do not appear to be on their side, activists like Hancock are dedicated to doing the work they can until the clock runs out.
“We’re gonna just keep doing what we’re doing,” Hancock said. “We’re gonna keep fighting the stigma. That’s about all we’re capable of doing right now… As long as our clinic has their doors open, we’re going to be there.”
The 2021 season is off and running. Rick and Tyler discuss the opening weekend of college football and highlight some of the surprise teams making moves at the high school level. Plus two great teams scheduled a surprise high school game that has everyone excited.
Several school districts in Mississippi have plans in place to use federal stimulus funds to offer up to $1,000 for teachers and staff members who get vaccinated against COVID-19, but the Mississippi Department of Education is advising them to press pause.
Although the U.S. Department of Education and the state auditor’s office agree that monies from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund can be used by schools to incentivize both students and employees to get vaccinated, the department has not yet given districts the go-ahead, MDE spokesperson Jean Cook said.
Cook declined to say what further guidance or information the department needed.
The Biloxi Public School District has rolled out a plan to pay $1,000 to staffers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 8.The plan is for the payments to go out in December, Biloxi Superintendent Marcus Boudreaux said.
“We’ve felt confident it would be approved ultimately, so we’re just operating as if it will be,” Boudreaux said when asked if the hold-up from MDE has made implementing the plan more difficult.
Boudreaux said he also sees vaccination as a cost-saving measure.
Current health guidelines dictate unvaccinated individuals must quarantine after coming in close contact with a person who has COVID. Vaccinated individuals, however, do not have to quarantine after being potentially exposed.
The district has held six drives since the vaccines were first available to the public, and at those drives, over 500 of Biloxi’s 850 employees have been vaccinated.
“It will hopefully save me on substitute teacher costs and wasting instructional time and the time of assistant teachers — not to mention the loss of instruction,” he said.
Biloxi, like several other districts across the state, is facing a major shortage of available substitute teachers to cover classes for teachers who are out sick with COVID-19 or quarantined, in addition to non-pandemic related absences.
“We’re using certified staff a lot on their planning time to cover other teachers’ classes. I’ve got principals and assistant principals sitting in classrooms,” said Boudreaux. “We’re having to cover for each other. We’re hoping with the incentive the more people that get vaccinated, the better off we’re going to be for fighting the virus.”
A Starkville teacher told Mississippi Today that due to a shortage of substitute teachers last week, entire classes were sitting in the bleachers in the gymnasium because no one was there to teach.
In the Yazoo County School District, the board increased the pay for substitute teachers in an attempt to better attract and retain them. For teachers without a degree, the pay increased from $55 per day to $90 per day. For those with degrees, the pay went from $70 a day to $150 a day.
The Kosciusko School District is planning a similar program, according to its director of federal programs Corrie Ramage. Employees have until Oct. 15 to be fully vaccinated in order to receive a payment of anywhere from $750 to $1,000, said Ramage.
Ramage said the district is doing everything it can not to repeat what happened last year when several staff members died from the virus. There was also a student from the district in the intensive care unit with COVID-19, and the town has lost several community members over the past three months.
“We’re hoping this will keep us in school longer,” she said. “We’re trying to be proactive.”
The Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District is also considering such a program, but Superintendent Sandra Reed said the district is still waiting for guidance from the state.
Districts are planning to use funds from the most recent federal coronavirus relief bill, the American Rescue Plan, to pay for the incentives. The U.S. Congress passed the bill in March, and it sent a total of around $1.6 billion to schools in Mississippi.
Biloxi received around $18.3 million of those funds, while Kosciusko got $7.3 million and Bay St. Louis-Waveland got around $6.6 million. The money can be used for an array of purposes, from purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean buildings to training and professional development for teachers and staff, in addition to purchasing educational technology and providing mental health supports for students.
ESSER funds may be used for vaccination outreach efforts, which “could include activities to create awareness and build confidence, facilitate clinics, and provide incentives … for staff to get vaccinated,” a U.S. Department of Education document states.
Officials from the state auditor’s office and state education department met last week to discuss the issue, according to Logan Reeves, spokesperson for the state auditor’s office.
“The office has been in communication with MDE,” said Reeves. “Our position is that these programs generally are legal. However, it is contingent upon individual school districts to make sure any incentive programs they enact do follow and stay within the bounds of the law.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the state education department had still not given districts the go-ahead to move forward.
“When we receive guidance from USED, it is not uncommon for us to conduct research to determine if there are any additional factors to consider under state law,” said Cook, the spokesperson for the state education department. “We have not issued guidance (to school districts) yet.”
As they remain in limbo, 2,869 students and 476 teachers and staff tested positive for COVID-19 during the week of Aug. 30, according to data from the Mississippi Department of Health. Around 15,000 students and 570 teachers and staff were quarantined during the same time period. The data is not a complete picture of actual infections and quarantines in schools as all school districts do not report.
The federal government announced on Tuesday that 75% of Americans had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine — a celebrated milestone that inspires hope that “normal” is on the horizon and the darkest days of the pandemic are behind us.
But there is no such joy in Mississippi.
Our state reports just 48% of residents have received at least one dose. That gives us the 47th lowest rank of any state in the nation — and the lowest of any Southern state. Just 40% of our population is fully vaccinated, which ranks 48th in the nation.
The COVID-19 shots, among the safest and most effective vaccines scientists have ever developed, are working wonders. In Mississippi last week, 99% of new cases were among the unvaccinated; 87% of COVID-related hospitalizations were among the unvaccinated; and 86% of deaths were among the unvaccinated.
Mississippi just experienced its darkest month of the pandemic. During the month of August alone, the virus accounted for one-fifth of the state’s total cases since the pandemic began and killed almost 1,000 of our neighbors.
By mid-August, Mississippi was the COVID capital of the world. At one point later in the month, four Mississippi counties claimed spots in the national top 10 list for highest caseload per capita, including the top spot.
The state’s healthcare system was so overwhelmed that experts warned the entire hospital network was within days of collapsing. To fend off that collapse, the state had to request that the federal government foot the $8 million-per-week bill for 1,100 contract healthcare workers.
As the virus worsened, more Mississippians felt led to get vaccinated. The last week of August, 86,000 Mississippians got inoculated — the most in a single week since mid-April, when the vaccine was first made widely available to most Mississippians.
But by the first week of September, the vaccine numbers had declined once again: just 75,000 Mississippians got the shot. If the history of the pandemic is any indication, this week’s vaccination numbers will be lower than that.
Dobbs has estimated that Mississippi needs around 85% of the population to be fully vaccinated to achieve low and steady transmission rates across the state because the delta variant is so highly contagious.
“Hopefully we’re not going to see the same sort of peak we’ve seen in the coming weeks. We’re starting to see some stabilization in numbers and hospitalizations, but again, time will tell,” Dobbs said. “And the better that we do at both preventing transmission and getting vaccinated is going to help us out of that.”
Mississippi Today reporter Will Stribling contributed to this report.
Traveling the twisting, two-lane blacktop pastoral roads of Jasper County brings the nonstop sight of cows, horses and chickens. Nestled into this farmland is the Stroka-Gene-Us Alpaca Farm in Stringer, where one can pet these animals and learn how to spin their fleece into yarn.
The 27-acre farm owned by Mary Ann Stroka is home to several alpacas where visitors can pet the docile animals during educational tours conducted by Stroka herself.
Stroka retired to Stringer from New York. After seeing her first alpaca, she fell in love. “They were so unbelievably soft,” said Stroka. “I just had to have a few.”
She and her family also needed a place to to keep the alpacas, which many confuse with their larger cousin, the llama. She settled on this location, which can be found through a left turn off MS 15 South onto County Road 155 in Stringer.
“Alpaca fleece is ten times softer and three times warmer than wool,” said Stroka. “It’s naturally water resistant and hypoallergenic. From separating fleece fibers using a carder machine to the spinning wheel making a skein of yarn is so relaxing. You get into a rhythm. The whole process takes about nine hours, so I do it because I love it, certainly not for the money,” she said.
No, not a llama, an alpaca. Alpacas are smaller than their llama cousins of the camelid family. That family also includes vicunas, guanacos, bactrian (two hump) camels and dromedary (one hump) camels. This is one of the alpacas at the Stroka Gene-Us Alpaca Farm owned and operated by Mary Ann Stroka in Stringer.
Alpacas at the 27-acre Stroka Gene-Us Alpaca Farm owned and operated by Mary Ann Stroka in Stringer. Stroka became fascinated with the animals while living in New York. When she and her husband retired, she brought the animals to Mississippi.
“They’re so soft,” said Mary Ann Stroka. “Alpaca hair is ten times softer than wool and three times warmer.”
A left turn off MS 15 South onto County Road 155 in Stringer will take you to the Stroka Gene-Us Alpaca Farm, owned and operated by Mary Ann Stroka.
Mary Ann Stroka with five of her Great Pyrenees dogs at her Stroka Gene-Us Alpaca Farm in Stringer. The dogs guard the alpacas from predators.
Mary Ann Stroka inside the gift and work shop, where she demonstrates a carder, used to separate the fleece fibers sheared from the alpacas. She dyed the fibers she holds.
Mary Ann Stroka demonstrates how she spins fleece fibers from her alpacas into yarn. “It’s calming,” said Stroka. “You get into a rhythm. The whole process takes about nine hours, so you do it because you love it, certainly not for the money.”
Plush toys made from alpaca fleece at the Stroka-Gene-Us Alpaca Farm in Stringer.
Visitors to the Stroka-Gene-Us Alpaca Farm in Stringer, learn about alpacas, watch yarn created from alpaca fleece or take a spinning class.
Alpaca yarn.
Dryer balls made from alpaca fleece. Alpaca fleece is naturally hypoallergenic and water resistant.
Yards of yarn made from alpaca fleece at the Stroka-Gene-Us Alpaca Farm in Stringer.
In just one brutal month’s time, the delta variant of COVID-19 accounted for one-fifth of the state of Mississippi’s total cases since the pandemic began and killed nearly 1,000 Mississippians.
During the month of August, the virus decimated the state’s hospital system, demoralized already weary frontline workers, and disrupted school for nearly every student and parent in the state.
Mississippi, among the least vaccinated states in America, will remember August 2021 as one of the darkest months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
By mid-August, Mississippi was the COVID capital of the world. At one point later in the month, four Mississippi counties claimed spots in the national top 10 list for highest caseload per capita, including the top spot.
The virus spread through the state so completely and violently that several tent hospitals were erected in parking garages during the hottest month of the Mississippi summer. By mid-August, there were no ICU beds available in the entire state, and COVID patients were waiting in full emergency rooms for critical care. To help alleviate the hospital staffing shortage, the Mississippi State Department of Health issued an order to allow EMTs and paramedics to offer care to COVID patients while they waited for bed space.
The state’s healthcare system was so overwhelmed that experts warned the entire hospital network was within days of collapsing. To fend off that collapse, the state had to request that the federal government foot the $8 million-per-week bill for 1,100 contract healthcare workers.
Hospital administrators across the state reported the virus killed numerous pregnant women. Multiple pregnant women on ventilators died of COVID-19 in a Jackson hospital, requiring ICU c-section deliveries to save their babies.
“The seasoned OB-GYNs and critical care specialists said this never happens — never,” said Mark Horne, president of the Mississippi State Medical Association, on Sept. 3.
Multiple Mississippians were hospitalized because they chose to take horse dewormer instead of a safe and effective vaccine, leading the health department to issue dire public pleas for humans to stop taking the animal medicine.
Beds to be used for the COVID-19 field hospital being set up in the basement of UMMC Parking Garage B, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Thirteen-year-old Mkayla Robinson, an eighth grader in Smith County, died a couple days after being diagnosed with COVID-19. That tragedy spurred pleas from the state’s largest medical and education groups for a statewide mask mandate in schools, similar to one issued by Gov. Tate Reeves last school year.
Reeves, however, rebuffed those pleas, ensuring Mississippians the days of statewide mandates to stem the spread of the virus were over.
Meanwhile, the swift and uncontrollable outbreaks of the virus inside schools caused nearly 15% of Mississippi schoolchildren to quarantine in August — just days after they returned for the fall semester — due to infection or direct exposure. This stirred fear inside classrooms among teachers and students alike.
There was little relief from Reeves, the state’s chief executive and top manager of the state’s pandemic response efforts. The governor remained steadfast in his refusal to say, without equivocation, that every eligible Mississippian should get a vaccine despite the fact that Republican governors in neighboring states offered clear and concise encouragement for their residents to get the shot.
Reeves was blistered by hospital executives and school leaders for his inconsistent COVID policies. He directly countered advice from the state’s top doctors, he placated those who refused to get the vaccine, and he uttered jaw-dropping comments about the pandemic.
Reeves countered the medical advice of Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state health officer, saying that there was not much reason for people who are vaccinated to wear masks. He said that a reporter who wore a mask inside a governor’s press conference was “virtue signaling,” and he falsely claimed that the press had fabricated reports of his response to the pandemic.
At a Republican fundraiser in Memphis in mid-August, Reeves said that Mississippians aren’t as scared of COVID as other Americans because they believe they’ll go to heaven when they die.
“When you believe in eternal life, when you believe that living on this earth is but a blip on the screen, then you don’t have to be so scared of things,” Reeves said, neglecting to mention any of the Mississippians who had died from COVID in August — 984 by month’s end — or their families.
Now one week into September, there is reason for cautious optimism. Cases and hospitalizations are trending sharply downward.
Light at the end of the tunnel?
Please stay safe. Health system still overburdened. And sadly, many more will die unnecessarily. pic.twitter.com/UBefdnUu2W
Mississippi’s seven-day average of new COVID cases has dropped nearly one-third from August’s peak. Hospitalizations have seen a more modest decrease — just over 16% from their peak — but these trends are naturally out of sync. It takes time for trends in caseloads to be reflected in hospitalizations and then deaths.
Another promising sign is Mississippi’s declining prominence among the most infectious counties in America. Just two weeks ago, Mississippi claimed four spots on the national top 10 list for highest caseload per capita, including the top spot. Now it only has one — Wayne County — sitting at No. 10. During that same period, Mississippi went from having the highest infection rate per capita of any state to the fourth-highest.
While the downward trend is welcomed, medical professionals are urging Mississippians to get the vaccine and remain vigilant.
“We can’t let our guard down,” Dobbs said during a press conference last week. “We’ve got a lot more coronavirus to go through before we can get back to where we were previously.”
