Hospitalizations surpass holiday peak in Mississippi; 20K students in quarantine - WLBT

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JACKSON, Miss. (WMC) - The top doc in Mississippi calls this the worst time of the pandemic.

Hospitalization numbers have surpassed the peak we saw after the holidays. Now, more than 20,000 children are in quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19 in school.

“The pressure on our healthcare system, while terrifying and unnecessary, still remains,” said Jim Craig, director of health protection for the Mississippi Department of Health.

On Wednesday, Mississippi’s latest field hospital, set up in the parking garage of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, opened to care for those patients still waiting for beds in brick and mortar hospitals.

“The facility consists of a 32-bed unit. Of those ICU beds, five will be ICU beds,” Craig said.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 200 patients across Mississippi were waiting for hospital beds. Six ICU beds remained, with nearly 50 patients needing one.

The key to getting more beds open is staff, but it’s not there. Hospitals in the state are requesting more than 1,000 additional staff members even as federal help moves in and orders are enacted to allow personnel like EMS workers to help inside the hospitals.

“If we can get that staffing to them, we can open up an additional 771 medical-surgical beds and 235 ICU beds currently unstaffed,” Craig said.

The state of Mississippi and DeSoto County are exploring whether a field hospital can be built in north Mississippi, but staffing remains the big bump in the road there too.

The county requested the state’s help this week to set up a COVID-19 testing center and field hospital.

Mississippi hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have now surpassed the prior peak of the pandemic after the winter holidays.

In January, there were more than 1,400 people hospitalized. Over the last month, there have been just over 1,600 people admitted to hospitals with COVID-19.

Mississippi reported more than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday.

Of all active cases, those aged 5 to 17 make up nearly a quarter of them. One teenager died of the virus last week. So, now five people under 18 have died of COVID-19 in Mississippi throughout the pandemic.

Transmission is already impacting schools. More than 20,000 students are in quarantine after potential exposure and nearly 30 schools going to temporary virtual learning, including Hernando High School.

“Unfortunately, this will translate to more hospitalizations to children under the age of 18,” said Mississippi Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers.

It’s a surging trend with no end in sight for now. Health officials continue to say the vaccine is the best way out of this pandemic.

More than 71,000 people were vaccinated last week in Mississippi.

As for a booster shot, Byers said pharmacies and doctors’ offices are cleared to give them to people who fit certain criteria, mostly immunocompromised people. He said by Monday he hopes to have booster available at county health departments.

Copyright 2021 WMC. All rights reserved.

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