More K-12 students in Mississippi have now tested positive for COVID-19 since going back to school last month than did so during the entirety of the previous school year, an examination of Mississippi State Department of Health data reveals.
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker says he has “recovered fully” from COVID-19 and has a “clean bill of health.” The senior Mississippi Republican announced the news in a tweet today, 12 days after he first confirmed his diagnosis on Aug. 19.
Mississippi has now surpassed the state of New York, the nation’s original pandemic hotspot, in total COVID-19 deaths per 100,000. The only state where the pandemic has proven deadlier than the Magnolia State is New Jersey.
The board that oversees Mississippi’s universities and colleges rejected calls for campus vaccine mandates this afternoon, with seven of the board’s nine members agreeing only to “strongly encourage” vaccines during a socially distanced Zoom meeting.
About 15% of all Mississippi K-12 students have now been quarantined since the start of the year either for testing positive for COVID-19 or due to known exposures. That figure, based on new data from the Mississippi State Department of Health, includes 65,525 students who have been ordered to isolate in the weeks since classes began.
The University of Mississippi Faculty Senate is considering a resolution calling on administrators to require that all eligible students, faculty and staff get vaccinated for COVID-19. At an extraordinary UM Faculty Senate meeting tonight, which the Mississippi Free Press listened in on, members discussed a resolution that cites “an obligation to protect the life, health and wellbeing of its students, faculty, staff, and surrounding communities” in Oxford.
With the delta variant making up over 93% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. at the end of July 2021, questions arise about how to stay protected against evolving forms of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Pediatrician and infectious disease specialist Dr. Lilly Cheng Immergluck of Morehouse School of Medicine answers some common questions about variants and what you can do to best protect yourself.
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