READ: Gov. Tate Reeves has resisted statewide mask mandate despite warnings from health officials and alarming COVID-19 trends

The post Marshall Ramsey: Dear Santa appeared first on Mississippi Today.

COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 1,485 new cases

By Alex Rozier and Erica Hensley | November 30, 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 30:

New cases: 1,485| New Deaths: 1

Total Hospitalizations: 1,058

Total cases: 153,270| Total Deaths: 3,807

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 41 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

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

Weekly update: Wednesday, November 25

The seven-day new case average reached 1,294 last week, a 75% increase since the start of November and the highest mark since July 31. 

The health department has reported over 9,000 new cases in the last week; a threshold only surpassed by one other week in July.

The number of hospitalizations have also begun to surge in the last month; using the seven-day rolling averages, total hospitalizations have increased by 46% in that time, ICU patients by 39%, and patients on ventilators by 47%. 

Though hospitalizations haven’t reached peak July levels, they are growing at a quicker pace than before. On Oct. 3, average total hospitalizations were at their lowest point since the state health department started tracking them. In seven weeks, numbers grew by 85%. The same percent growth took 12 weeks from April to July, heading into the peak.

Overall, the state’s ICUs are 83% full, with COVID-19 patients comprising 31% of all ICU beds. Sixteen of the state’s highest level COVID-care centers are at 88% capacity, and six of them — both Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Southaven and in the Golden Triangle, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Baptist and Merit in Jackson, and the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville — have zero ICU beds available. 

Within the last three 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, along with most of the country. Despite the rise in cases in the state, Mississippi now ranks 33rd in new cases per capita, dropping from 26th two weeks ago.

Counties across the state saw large increases in cases over the last week. Winston County (13% increase), Jefferson County (12%), Amite County (12%), Stone County (12%) and Choctaw County (11%) saw the biggest surges in that span. 

MSDH reports that 121,637 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 1,485 new cases appeared first on Mississippi Today.

COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 1,845 new cases

By Alex Rozier and Erica Hensley | November 29, 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 29:

New cases: 1,845| New Deaths: 27

Total Hospitalizations: 1,058

Total cases: 151,785| Total Deaths: 3,806

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 41 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

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

Weekly update: Wednesday, November 25

The seven-day new case average reached 1,294 last week, a 75% increase since the start of November and the highest mark since July 31. 

The health department has reported over 9,000 new cases in the last week; a threshold only surpassed by one other week in July.

The number of hospitalizations have also begun to surge in the last month; using the seven-day rolling averages, total hospitalizations have increased by 46% in that time, ICU patients by 39%, and patients on ventilators by 47%. 

Though hospitalizations haven’t reached peak July levels, they are growing at a quicker pace than before. On Oct. 3, average total hospitalizations were at their lowest point since the state health department started tracking them. In seven weeks, numbers grew by 85%. The same percent growth took 12 weeks from April to July, heading into the peak.

Overall, the state’s ICUs are 83% full, with COVID-19 patients comprising 31% of all ICU beds. Sixteen of the state’s highest level COVID-care centers are at 88% capacity, and six of them — both Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Southaven and in the Golden Triangle, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Baptist and Merit in Jackson, and the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville — have zero ICU beds available. 

Within the last three 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, along with most of the country. Despite the rise in cases in the state, Mississippi now ranks 33rd in new cases per capita, dropping from 26th two weeks ago.

Counties across the state saw large increases in cases over the last week. Winston County (13% increase), Jefferson County (12%), Amite County (12%), Stone County (12%) and Choctaw County (11%) saw the biggest surges in that span. 

MSDH reports that 121,637 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 1,845 new cases appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The bill passed earlier this year that removed the old state flag included a little-noticed provision that requires legislators to ratify the action of voters. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Despite a massive vote on Nov. 3 in favor of a new Mississippi state flag that proclaims “In God We Trust,” additional official actions are needed to ensure the death knell for the 126-year-old state flag that features the Confederate battle emblem as part of its design.

During the 2021 legislative session that begins in January, lawmakers must ratify the new state flag approved by voters on Nov. 3. The bill passed this summer — which retired the old flag and formed a commission to recommend a new design (the “In God We Trust” flag) to be approved or rejected by voters on Nov. 3 — included a little-noticed provision that requires legislators to ratify the action of the voters.

That means lawmakers must take at least one more vote on the flag in the rapidly approaching legislative session.

In 2001, during an earlier failed attempt to change the state flag, legislators voted to hold a referendum where the choice would be between the old flag and a new design recommended by a commission. The bill passed by the Legislature that year stated that whatever flag voters approved would be the official flag of the state without any additional action by the Legislature. In 2001, voters overwhelmingly voted to retain the old flag.

But the bill approved this year states that once voters approved the new design, “the Legislature shall enact into law the new design as the official Mississippi state flag.” Of course, the courts have ruled that the word “shall” does not force legislators to do anything they do not want to do.

The vote to change the flag this past summer was a difficult one for many legislators to take, and several lawmakers have taken heat for it in their home districts. That begs the question of why language was put into the bill essentially forcing legislators to take yet another vote on the contentious issue. It seems the easier option would have been to mandate that the vote of the people for a new flag would ratify that banner as official.

As the bill was being crafted in June, concerns were raised about an 1860 Supreme Court case, Alcorn v. Hamer. Some said the ruling in that case could be interpreted to say it was unconstitutional for the Legislature to leave it to a vote of the people to enact general law.

Despite the controversy surrounding replacing the old flag, there is good reason to believe the ratification of the new flag by the Legislature during the 2021 session will be nothing more than a formality and will perhaps happen early in the session.

After all, more Mississippians voted for the new state flag on Nov. 3 than voted for President Donald Trump or U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Heck, more people voted for the new flag than voted for medical marijuana, which also got more votes than Trump and Hyde-Smith.

The only ballot item receiving more votes than the new flag this year was the proposal to change the Constitution to remove the language requiring candidates for statewide office to garner both a majority of the popular votes and to win the most votes in a majority of House districts in order to win the election.

That proposal received 957,420 votes, or 79.2%, in still unofficial returns, while the flag garnered 939,585 vote, or 73.3%. Trump received 756,731 votes, or 57.5%.

Both the electoral provision that was repealed by voters and the old state flag were remnants of the 1890s, when Mississippi’s white power structure took extraordinary steps to deny basic rights to African Americans. The electoral provision was enacted as a method of preventing Black Mississippians, then a majority in the state, from being elected to statewide office.

Placing the Confederate battle emblem on the state’s official flag during the same time period, no doubt, was a way for white lawmakers to pay homage to the Civil War in which Southerners fought to preserve slavery.

Even if the Legislature, as expected, does ratify the new flag in 2021, the controversy may not be quite over. The Let Mississippi Vote political committee plans to try to garner the roughly 100,000 signatures of registered voters needed to place a proposal back on the ballot to allow people to choose between four flags — one being that 126-year-old banner.

Most likely later this month or early next month, the clock will start ticking on the one-year time frame supporters of that ballot initiative will have to gather the signatures to place the flag proposal on the ballot.

Whether Mississippians, who voted overwhelmingly for a new flag on Nov. 3, will want to vote again on the contentious issue remains to be seen.

The post The old state flag with the Confederate battle emblem isn’t dead just yet appeared first on Mississippi Today.

COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 1,553 new cases

By Alex Rozier and Erica Hensley | November 28, 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 Saturday, November 28:

New cases: 1,553| New Deaths: 10

Total Hospitalizations: 1,039

Total cases: 149,940| Total Deaths: 3,779

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 41 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

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

Weekly update: Wednesday, November 25

The seven-day new case average reached 1,294 last week, a 75% increase since the start of November and the highest mark since July 31. 

The health department has reported over 9,000 new cases in the last week; a threshold only surpassed by one other week in July.

The number of hospitalizations have also begun to surge in the last month; using the seven-day rolling averages, total hospitalizations have increased by 46% in that time, ICU patients by 39%, and patients on ventilators by 47%. 

Though hospitalizations haven’t reached peak July levels, they are growing at a quicker pace than before. On Oct. 3, average total hospitalizations were at their lowest point since the state health department started tracking them. In seven weeks, numbers grew by 85%. The same percent growth took 12 weeks from April to July, heading into the peak.

Overall, the state’s ICUs are 83% full, with COVID-19 patients comprising 31% of all ICU beds. Sixteen of the state’s highest level COVID-care centers are at 88% capacity, and six of them — both Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Southaven and in the Golden Triangle, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Baptist and Merit in Jackson, and the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville — have zero ICU beds available. 

Within the last three 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, along with most of the country. Despite the rise in cases in the state, Mississippi now ranks 33rd in new cases per capita, dropping from 26th two weeks ago.

Counties across the state saw large increases in cases over the last week. Winston County (13% increase), Jefferson County (12%), Amite County (12%), Stone County (12%) and Choctaw County (11%) saw the biggest surges in that span. 

MSDH reports that 121,637 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 1,553 new cases appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America

Flood waters surround Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in the Goose Lake community of Issaquena Count on April 5, 2019.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says an updated study and proposal for the flood control project known as the Yazoo Pumps will not have a detrimental effect on South Delta wetlands, while environmental groups and experts fear the project would dry up a valuable ecosystem. 

The Corps, which is taking public comments on the proposal until Nov. 30, released the new data last month for the proposed pumps which would be built just north of Vicksburg.

During two straight springs that saw over a half million acres of flooding in the Delta — caused by a combination of heavy rainfall and a rising Mississippi River — residents in the area have organized to appeal for a review of the pumps project, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency vetoed funding for in 2008 after concerns that it would dry up wetlands.

Several Mississippi politicians in both parties on the state and federal level, namely Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, led that recent charge, and last year the EPA agreed to give the project another look. 

Specifically, the Corps set out after the 2008 veto to show which water sources sustain the South Delta’s wetlands, which conservationists have called some of the most valuable habitat in the country, especially for migratory birds. After collecting a decade’s worth of groundwater and soil observations, the Corps published a peer-reviewed study showing that 87% of the wetlands are sustained by precipitation, as opposed to the springtime flooding. 

Dr. Jacob Berkowitz, a scientist with the Corps and one of the study’s authors, explained that most of the area receives the water necessary for sustaining wetlands from rainfall in the winter, suggesting that the water from the spring flooding could be removed without harming the local ecology. 

Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America

A car is nearly submerged in flood water in Issaquena County Friday, April 5, 2019.

“Even if the pumps operate, they’re not going to convert those areas from wetlands to non-wetlands,” Berkowitz said. “The wetlands have already experienced their natural pattern of hydrology before (the flooding) occurs.”

Yet some experts in the environmental community aren’t as convinced by the new research. Dr. Alex Kolker, of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, said the study lacked modeling of what would happen when the pumps are actually in use.

“I don’t doubt at all that the local rainfall contribution could be extensive,” Kolker told Mississippi Today. “But it doesn’t change my primary concern, which is that over-extensive pumping will lower the water table and dry out the soil.”

After the Corps released its new proposal, which is still in the draft stage, several conservation groups — including American Rivers, Audubon Mississippi, Healthy Gulf, Mississippi River Network and Mississippi Sierra Club — immediately called for the federal government to abandon the project and instead consider alternatives for flood relief. 

“This area is home to 17 state and federal threatened and endangered species and is a critical pitstop for migrating fish, birds and wildlife that travel along the Mississippi River Flyway,” said Kelly McGinnis, executive director of the Mississippi River Network. “Losing these wetlands will hurt the entire Mississippi River.”

Earlier this year, American Rivers listed the Big Sunflower River as one of the nation’s most endangered streams because of momentum around the Yazoo Pumps. It also included a list of alternatives — such as voluntary buyouts and elevating structures — that would be cheaper than the pumps, which would likely cost upwards of $300 million.

Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America

Flood waters surround a property in Issaquena County Friday, April 5, 2019.

The flooded area includes a quarter million acres of farm land — largely crops of soybeans, corn, and cotton — and the last two years Delta farmers have experienced significant financial setbacks, missing entire growing seasons. In a presentation last year, Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson estimated that the state saw a loss of $500 million worth of crops.

Conservationists who oppose the pumps project argue that the project is more intended to salvage farm revenue rather than to see flood protection for homeowners.

Kolker, the LUMCON professor, added that there are larger issues at play than just the pumps themselves. The Mississippi River is flooding more frequently, a phenomenon most researchers attribute in part to climate change. Others also believe it is due to increased channelization of the river, as well as flood control structures built through the river’s basin such as the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana.

“The hypothesis is that sedimentation just downstream of the Old River Control Structure is causing a change in the slope of the Mississippi River,” Kolker explained, “and that is contributing to increased flooding in this region. That’s one of the pieces I think makes it a bigger picture story than just these pumps. Is (the pump project) a shorter term solution? Is it the right solution?”

For information on submitting a comment to the Corps, click this link.

The post Yazoo Pumps proposal released with new research, but concerns over wetlands and cost remain appeared first on Mississippi Today.

COVID-19 cases: Mississippi reports 1,005 new cases

By Alex Rozier and Erica Hensley | November 27, 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 Friday, November 27:

New cases: 1,005| New Deaths: 6

Total Hospitalizations: 1,039

Total cases: 148,387| Total Deaths: 3,769

Mask Mandates | On Sept. 30, Gov. Tate Reeves ended the statewide mask mandate order, originally issued Aug. 4. Since then, he has added a total of 41 individual county mask mandates, covering half of the state. State health officials encourage widespread masking and credit the original mandate with helping cases improve after a steep summer spike. View the full list of COVID-19 orders here.

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

Weekly update: Wednesday, November 25

The seven-day new case average reached 1,294 last week, a 75% increase since the start of November and the highest mark since July 31. 

The health department has reported over 9,000 new cases in the last week; a threshold only surpassed by one other week in July.

The number of hospitalizations have also begun to surge in the last month; using the seven-day rolling averages, total hospitalizations have increased by 46% in that time, ICU patients by 39%, and patients on ventilators by 47%. 

Though hospitalizations haven’t reached peak July levels, they are growing at a quicker pace than before. On Oct. 3, average total hospitalizations were at their lowest point since the state health department started tracking them. In seven weeks, numbers grew by 85%. The same percent growth took 12 weeks from April to July, heading into the peak.

Overall, the state’s ICUs are 83% full, with COVID-19 patients comprising 31% of all ICU beds. Sixteen of the state’s highest level COVID-care centers are at 88% capacity, and six of them — both Baptist Memorial Hospitals in Southaven and in the Golden Triangle, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Baptist and Merit in Jackson, and the Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville — have zero ICU beds available. 

Within the last three 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, along with most of the country. Despite the rise in cases in the state, Mississippi now ranks 33rd in new cases per capita, dropping from 26th two weeks ago.

Counties across the state saw large increases in cases over the last week. Winston County (13% increase), Jefferson County (12%), Amite County (12%), Stone County (12%) and Choctaw County (11%) saw the biggest surges in that span. 

MSDH reports that 121,637 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 1,005 new cases appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Revitalizing Lake Hico and the surrounding area to be a viable economic asset for metro Jackson has been bandied about for years, but dreams of bringing the area back to life have officially come to an end.

Entergy recently closed the power plant there and is draining the lake at the request of the Jackson Public School District. The lake itself exists on 16th Section land which the district leased to Entergy to generate funds for the public school system.

The lake was constructed in the late 1950s to provide cooling ponds for electricity production by the Rex Brown Steam Engine Station of the Mississippi Power & Light Company, now Entergy. Entergy’s lease expired Oct. 31 this year and was not renewed.

Entergy’s Senior Lead Communications Specialist Mara Hartman told Mississippi Today that the Rex Brown Steam Engine Station, located at 1960 W. Northside Drive in Jackson, has reached the end of its useful life. The last remaining operating units at the plant were retired in June 2019 after nearly 71 years of service.

“We’re in the process of demolishing the remaining infrastructure of the plant and removing it, with expectations of that to be complete early next year. With the retirement of the plant, the body of water that served as the cooling water facility is no longer needed to provide electricity to the metro area,” Hartman said.

Named for Hinds County, Lake Hico was once home to the Jackson Yacht Club. That all ended in the 1960s at the height of the civil rights movement due to a reluctance to integrate. The yacht club moved its operation to the Ross Barnett Reservoir in Madison County, and the park was closed by the city in 1975.

After a lawsuit by a local resident, the park was reopened in 1985. Recreational use of the main lake remained forbidden. Lake Hico was fenced off from the public with only a smaller, adjacent, same-named park available for picnics, tennis, and basketball.

In September 2020, JPS directed Entergy to drain the lake and breach the levee. The power company owns the surrounding property Rex Brown is located on and will hold on to it “for potential future use,” Hartman said.

The post Hopes of opening Lake Hico fizzle as Entergy closes power plant, drains lake appeared first on Mississippi Today.