Dr. LouAnn Woodward, who leads the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the state’s only academic health center and largest hospital, directly called on Monday for Gov. Tate Reeves to re-issue a statewide mask mandate.

Reeves became the first governor in America to rescind a statewide mask mandate on Sept. 30, and COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have steadily climbed since that date. Since the statewide mandate expired, however, Reeves has issued more than a dozen county-by-county mask mandates — a piecemeal approach that has received some criticism from medical experts.

“We do very much believe we should have a statewide mask mandate,” Woodward said Monday at a press conference. “… I think we have reasonable evidence to believe the county-by-county approach is not working. It’s not doing what we need it to do. It is not turning these numbers around for us.

“With the governor being the highest level of state official, I think that sends a big signal for that position to say, ‘We are at a critical point, people. We need to have a statewide mask mandate.’ That sense of urgency is rapidly becoming much more intense and powerful. And what we have been doing hasn’t turned us around.”

Woodward was also vocal in the days leading up to the governor’s first statewide mask mandate in early August. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, who leads the state’s health department, has recently posted to social media information about the effectiveness of mask mandates.

The rise in COVID-19 cases in Mississippi — a surge only topped by the record spread in July and August — has persisted for nearly two straight months. On Saturday, the state health department reported a single-day record of 1,972 new cases. The seven-day rolling average reached 1,294 over the weekend, which is the highest mark since July 31.

READ MORE: The latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates.

The state health department also reported close to 900 total hospitalizations for people with the virus. That mark is at its highest point since Aug. 26. Health officials on Friday warned the public about managing spread in the cold months and during the holiday season.

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Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America

Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis Jr., who has tested positive for COVID-19, announced Monday morning Ole Miss will take a two-week timeout from basketball activities due to the virus.

Health experts say they are worried that the start of basketball season in Mississippi will compound the state’s COVID-19 infection rates, which have reached new records this week — and several high school and college teams in the state have already seen major outbreaks.

In fact, Ole Miss announced Monday morning its men’s team will take a two-week timeout from basketball activities due to COVID-19.

Last week, both State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers and State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs expressed concerns that basketball, because it is played indoors, has the potential to significantly spread the viral disease.

“Basketball is particular concerning,” Byers said. “We have seen clusters and outbreaks in basketball settings and we’re worried about that.”

READ MORE: “Keep Thanksgiving small”: COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations near records as holidays approach.

Asked about whether basketball presents inherent problems, Dobbs was adamant that playing an indoor sport in settings with limited air flow could lead to outbreaks.

Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs emphasized during a Nov. 20 press conference the need for Mississippians to follow safety protocols as positive COVID-19 numbers continue to spike.

“I’m going to say one thing,” Dobbs said. “The CDC (Center for Disease Control) had a recent announcement about a hockey outbreak. One person gave it to 22 people at a hockey game… That’s pretty appalling, right? … Basketball is a lot more intimate than ice hockey. I think, yes, basketball is going to be more dangerous.”

High school and college basketball teams across Mississippi face mounting issues as the 2020-21 basketball season begins on a hit-and-miss basis across the state.

Ole Miss announced Monday morning it is suspending men’s basketball activities until Dec. 7 because of a rash of COVID-19 infections. That means the cancellation the first four games on its schedule, including three games in the Justin Reed Classic the Rebels were supposed to host Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. A Dec. 5 home game with Memphis also has been canceled.

Ole Miss announced last week that coach Kermit Davis Jr. had tested positive for COVID-19. Davis indicated he has experienced mild symptoms.

“We were doing well and then it hit us,” Davis said in a text message on Monday morning. “(COVID-19) is going through us.”

Southern Miss has announced that its first two games — Saturday and Sunday in the MKE Classic at Milwaukee — have been canceled due to COVID-19 issues among other teams in the tournament. USM was scheduled to play North Dakota State on Saturday and Milwaukee on Sunday. As it now stands, the Golden Eagles will not open the season until Dec. 2 with a home game against cross-town rival William Carey.

“We are looking for games to add to our schedule,” USM coach Jay Ladner said in a text message. He indicated his team has experienced no serious COVID-19 issues.

Meanwhile, Mississippi State will begin its men’s season Wednesday night against Clemson in the Space Coast Challenge at Melbourne, Fla. State also will play either Liberty or Purdue on Thursday in the Florida event and is scheduled to open at home next Monday night against Texas State.

Ole Miss, State and Southern Miss all have announced plans to limit basketball attendance to 25% of arena capacity for home games.

Mississippi junior college teams have put off the start of basketball season until the third week of January, and high school teams across the state widely vary on how they are approaching basketball season.

Jackson Public Schools, which canceled the fall football season, plans to play basketball, but will not play before Dec. 19, JPS athletic director Daryl Jones said.

“It’s going to be tough, but we’re doing everything possible to play,” Jones said.

At perennial powerhouse Gulfport, the season has begun with decidedly mixed results. The Admirals already have had three games postponed or canceled. Gulfport was supposed to host its annual Thanksgiving tournament today and Tuesday, but that event has been canceled due to multiple teams with COVID-19 issues. Gulfport has managed to play four games and has a 2-2 record despite multiple problems with the virus.

“We’ve got four of our starters quarantined because of COVID,” coach Owen Miller said. “They don’t have it but they have been exposed to it. We’ve had two kids test positive and they have had only mild symptoms.”

Greenville is the only Mississippi high school known to have canceled its basketball season, according to the Mississippi High Schools Activities Association (MHSAA).

The post Health experts fear the start of Mississippi basketball season will spread COVID-19 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs urged Mississippians in a Nov. 21 press conference to follow safety protocols as positive COVID-19 numbers spike.

Health officials are urging Mississippians to limit Thanksgiving gatherings as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations near record numbers ahead of the busy holiday.

“Please keep Thanksgiving small, local and outdoors,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs tweeted on Sunday along with a chart that showed hospitalizations nearing unprecedented rates.

The rise in COVID-19 cases in Mississippi — a surge only topped by the record spread in July and August — has persisted for nearly two straight months. On Saturday, the state health department reported a single-day record of 1,972 new cases. The seven-day rolling average reached 1,294 over the weekend, which is the highest mark since July 31.

READ MORE: The latest COVID-19 Mississippi trends with daily case, death and hospitalization updates.

The state health department also reported close to 900 total hospitalizations for people with the virus. That mark is at its highest point since Aug. 26. Health officials on Friday warned the public about managing spread in the cold months and during the holiday season.

“The number of critically ill patients we have in the hospital typically runs higher this time of year,” Timothy Moore, president of the Mississippi Hospital Association, said on Friday.

Moore noted that cases have risen after each major holiday weekend so far during the pandemic, most recently during Halloween.

“When you put an increase of COVID patients on top of that, then we’ve just exacerbated the problem moving forward,” he said.

The post ‘Keep Thanksgiving small’: COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations near records as holidays approach appeared first on Mississippi Today.

READ: ‘Keep Thanksgiving small’: COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations near records as holidays approach

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COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 699 new cases

By Alex Rozier and Erica Hensley | November 23, 2020

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

This page was last updated Monday, November 23:

New cases: 699| New Deaths: 0

Total Hospitalizations: 999

Total cases: 143,879| Total Deaths: 3,676

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. On Nov. 16, Reeves added seven counties to the state’s mask-wearing mandate. The 22 counties under a mandate until Dec. 11 are: Benton, Carroll, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Harrison, Hinds, Humphreys, Itawamba, Jackson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Leflore, Lee, Madison, Marshall, Montgomery, Pontotoc, Rankin, Tate, Winston, and Yalobusha. State health officials still encourage widespread masking and credit the mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

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

Weekly update: Wednesday, November 18

The seven-day new case average reached 1,143 today, a 54% increase since the start of November and the highest mark since Aug. 3. 

The health department has reported over 8,000 new cases in the last week; apart from the record surge in July and August — which saw a 13-day stretch with over 8,000 new weekly cases — this is the only other time Mississippi has reached that threshold. 

The number of hospitalizations have also begun to surge in the last month; using the seven-day rolling averages, total hospitalizations have increased by 32% in that time, ICU patients by 34%, and patients on ventilators by 36%. 

Overall, the state’s ICUs are 84% full, with COVID-19 patients comprising 26% of all ICU beds. Sixteen of the state’s highest level COVID-care centers are at 86% capacity, and five of them — both Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Southaven and in the Golden Triangle, University of Mississippi Medical Center and St. Dominic in Jackson, and the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville — have zero ICU beds available. 

According to the latest White House task force report, Mississippi’s test positivity rate is now 14%. 

Within the last two weeks, Mississippi has moved from “orange” to “red” on the Global Health Institute’s risk level tracker, meaning it now averages over 25 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. Despite the rise in cases in the state, Mississippi now ranks 31st in new cases per capita, dropping from 26th a week ago.

Counties across the state saw large increases in cases over the last week. Choctaw County (15% increase), Stone County (12%), Lincoln County (12%), Attala County (12%) and Marshall County (12%) saw the biggest surges in that span. 

MSDH reports that 116,683 people have recovered. 

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

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

The post COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 699 new cases appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 779 new cases

By Alex Rozier and Erica Hensley | November 22, 2020

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

This page was last updated Sunday, November 22:

New cases: 779| New Deaths: 19

Total Hospitalizations: 999

Total cases: 143,180| Total Deaths: 3,676

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. On Nov. 16, Reeves added seven counties to the state’s mask-wearing mandate. The 22 counties under a mandate until Dec. 11 are: Benton, Carroll, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Harrison, Hinds, Humphreys, Itawamba, Jackson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Leflore, Lee, Madison, Marshall, Montgomery, Pontotoc, Rankin, Tate, Winston, and Yalobusha. State health officials still encourage widespread masking and credit the mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

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

Weekly update: Wednesday, November 18

The seven-day new case average reached 1,143 today, a 54% increase since the start of November and the highest mark since Aug. 3. 

The health department has reported over 8,000 new cases in the last week; apart from the record surge in July and August — which saw a 13-day stretch with over 8,000 new weekly cases — this is the only other time Mississippi has reached that threshold. 

The number of hospitalizations have also begun to surge in the last month; using the seven-day rolling averages, total hospitalizations have increased by 32% in that time, ICU patients by 34%, and patients on ventilators by 36%. 

Overall, the state’s ICUs are 84% full, with COVID-19 patients comprising 26% of all ICU beds. Sixteen of the state’s highest level COVID-care centers are at 86% capacity, and five of them — both Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Southaven and in the Golden Triangle, University of Mississippi Medical Center and St. Dominic in Jackson, and the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville — have zero ICU beds available. 

According to the latest White House task force report, Mississippi’s test positivity rate is now 14%. 

Within the last two weeks, Mississippi has moved from “orange” to “red” on the Global Health Institute’s risk level tracker, meaning it now averages over 25 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. Despite the rise in cases in the state, Mississippi now ranks 31st in new cases per capita, dropping from 26th a week ago.

Counties across the state saw large increases in cases over the last week. Choctaw County (15% increase), Stone County (12%), Lincoln County (12%), Attala County (12%) and Marshall County (12%) saw the biggest surges in that span. 

MSDH reports that 116,683 people have recovered. 

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

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

The post COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 779 new cases appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

House Speaker Philip Gunn, left, and Gov. Tate Reeves listen as Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann speaks during a press conference on May 7, 2020.

What looked to be a ho-hum 2021 legislative session as a respite from the 2020 session — the longest in state history and dominated by COVID-19 — got more interesting this past week when Gov. Tate Reeves released his budget proposal.

The Republican Reeves proposed phasing out the state’s income tax, which accounts for more than 30% of state general fund revenue, or about $1.90 billion annually.

Reeves, in his first year as governor, spent most of the 2020 session being bullied by legislative leaders and reacting to their actions, such as their historic move — originally opposed by the governor — to replace the 126-year-old state flag that incorporated the Confederate battle emblem in its design.

The governor, in his budget plan, made it clear that he intends to be the hammer and not the nail in the 2021 session. And from a strategic standpoint, he might have selected a good issue on which to base that effort. After all, there is nothing from a policy standpoint a Republican politician likes better than a tax cut, and especially an income tax cut. And Republicans maintain the three-fifths majority needed in each chamber to pass a tax cut if they all stick together.

While the ongoing pandemic casts doubt on the economic outlook for the state and on the amount of revenue that will be generated to pay for vital services, Reeves argues that now is precisely the right time to enact a major tax cut.

“We as a state need to think big…” Reeves said. “What can we do to make a splash? What can we do to say to the world not only do we want you to invest capital here, we want you to move here.”

Eliminating the income tax would spur that growth, Reeves said.

House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, has long been a proponent of cutting the income tax. A matter of fact, during the previous term, then-Lt. Gov. Reeves, as the presiding officer of the Senate, blocked efforts of the House leaders to phase out the income tax.

Gunn has advocated for the state relying on use and excise taxes to fund state government. Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation, relies on both a 7% sales tax on retail items and a relatively modest income tax to generate the bulk of the revenue to fund state government.

During the 2019 gubernatorial campaign, then Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood, who lost to Reeves, proposed reducing the 7% sales tax on groceries, which is the highest state-imposed tax of its kind in the nation and disproportionately falls on the poor to pay.

Many Democrats and some Republicans in the state have for years tried to at least reduce the tax on food.

According to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, Mississippi had the nation’s 24th most regressive tax structure in 2018. Regressive taxes place more of the burden on the poor. If the income tax, a progressive tax that generally requires the wealthy to pay more, is eliminated, that could result in a larger tax burden for the poor. Reeves maintains the income tax could be phased out without needing to increase other taxes to make up for the loss in revenue. The income tax cut would result in growth of other revenue sources, he reasons.

Others argue that the needs are too many to be reducing taxes. Kindergarten through 12th grade education is underfunded more than $250 million for the current year, and most acknowledge that it will be shorted by at least that much in the coming fiscal year. Community colleges and universities also have been underfunded, and the state faces multiple challenges in providing health care to the needy.

During the 2019 campaign, both Reeves and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said providing a multi-year pay raise to get teachers to at least near the Southeastern average was a major priority — perhaps their top priority.

A pay raise that was planned for the 2020 session was scrapped because of the uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Reeves did not make a teacher pay raise part of his legislative priority released last week, though a spokesperson later said the governor believed there would be money for a pay raise even while cutting taxes.

But he notably said when presenting his budget that teachers tell him all the time, “I didn’t get into teaching for the money. I didn’t go into teaching for any other reason than I wanted to make my community a better place.”

Still, Reeves might have a difficult time convincing legislators during the 2021 session, which begins in January, to impose a massive tax cut if they cannot muster the money for a teacher pay raise.

Under that scenario, he could again become the nail.

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