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Mississippi’s Joint Redistricting Committee has released its recommendations for the state’s four new congressional districts, and the result could be a sprawling District 2 for the only Democratic and only Black representative, Bennie Thompson, in a state that is 38% Black.
A child has died of an influenza infection for the first time since May 2020, the Mississippi State Health Department reported this week. The state reported two child deaths from influenza in 2020, but flu activity levels plummeted as residents followed social-distancing guidelines in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mississippi thus far has avoided the dramatic uptick in new cases that countries like the United Kingdom and South Africa have faced from the omicron variant of coronavirus, but state health leadership is encouraging residents to remain vigilant after detecting the variant in Mississippi.
Mississippi’s daily average COVID-19 caseload is now at its highest point since late October. Today, Dec. 9, 2021, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported 745 new cases, marking the second day in a row with more than 700 cases.
Laboratory studies of the omicron variant of COVID-19 from multiple sources reveal a dramatic decrease in neutralizing activity from prior infection with earlier variants and the available vaccines. The results provide a challenging prospect for the future of the pandemic if the variant becomes dominant, and strongly encourage a booster dose for all adults, regardless of health conditions.
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, the second-highest ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the United States cannot rule out any options for responding to Russian aggression in Ukraine—including sending in ground troops or even a nuclear strike.
The Mississippi State Department of Health has detected the first case of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in Mississippi. Health officials discovered the variant in a fully vaccinated individual who returned to Mississippi from New York, where earlier cases of the variant have been reported, but MSDH could not confirm where the infected individual acquired the virus.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves confirmed this weekend that his state will swiftly move to enact a trigger law banning nearly all abortions starting from the moment of conception if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade.
Hinds County has until the middle of this month to convince a federal judge to not hold it in civil contempt and take over the running of the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond.
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