Dr. Thomas Dobbs 

Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs is advising Mississippians to only participate in work, school and other “absolutely essential” activities.

The Mississippi State Department of Health recommended on Wednesday that all Mississippi residents avoid any social gathering that includes individuals outside of one’s nuclear family or household.

The department is recommending that people avoid funerals, unless they are a member of the close family of the deceased, and is advising that the funerals are held outdoors. Other gatherings that MSDH recommends that people do not attend are social events, parties, family gatherings outside of one’s household or nuclear family, weddings, sporting events and in-person church services.

“We have seen numerous outbreaks linked to these events,” Dobb said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference. “We’ve seen these outbreak events lead to outbreaks within long-term care settings and nursing homes. And we have seen people who went to funerals last week who are on ventilators today and are likely to die.”

Dobbs said that “by and large,” he would encourage people to not attend outdoor holiday gatherings. But he “absolutely” encourages against attending these gatherings if you are over 65 or have a chronic medical condition.

Dobbs said Mississippi is seeing a marked increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. He added that yesterday, Mississippi saw a record number of new hospitalizations of people diagnosed with COVID-19 — 145.

He said that, at the moment, 13 major medical centers in Mississippi had zero ICU beds available and 20 other hospitals had 10% or less of their ICU beds available.

“This is a really frightening shortage,” he said, “and if we look at the trend, it’s continuing to worsen.”

This new guidance from MSDH comes a day after Gov. Tate Reeves added Kemper and 12 other counties to the list of counties with additional COVID-19 safety measures. The list already included Lauderdale and Neshoba counties.

Indoor social gatherings in the counties on the list must be limited to 10 people, and outdoor social gatherings must be limited to 50. People in the counties must wear a mask when they are indoors and interacting with the public, but cannot social distance.

Dobbs said masks do not work when people do not wear them. People do not wear masks when they are eating with their friends, are at a dinner party or are with their families at home, he said.

“Now, we have to be around our families at home, but we don’t have to go to a dinner party and we don’t have to go to eat with friends and go out and eat,” he said. “We just don’t.”

State epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said that there have been steady increases in COVID-19 cases over the last several weeks in Mississippi.

“And now, we have either equaled or actually getting a little bit higher than the large peak of activity we had over the summer months,” he said.

The City of Meridian is under a mask mandate that remains in effect until the end of the year. At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Ward 3 councilwoman Fannie Johnson urged the public to take COVID-19 seriously.

“Please, please, please take it seriously,” she said. “Wear your mask, wear it correctly, and consider what can happen to other people, not just yourself.”

Ward 4 councilwoman Kim Houston advised those gathering with their family to practice social distancing and wear a mask.

“Please be careful even when you’re fellowshipping within, amongst family and friends,” she said. “COVID is very real.”

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported on Wednesday 2,457 new cases of COVID-19 in Mississippi — a record for daily new cases — and 15 additional deaths, bringing the state’s totals to 156,868 cases and 3,851 deaths.

On Wednesday, MSDH reported 69 new cases of COVID-19 in Lauderdale County and no additional deaths, bringing the county’s totals to 3,663 cases and 147 COVID-19 related deaths since March.

23 new cases were reported in Newton County, which has had a total of 1,105 cases since March. No new deaths were reported; the county has had 29 COVID-19 related deaths since March.

In Kemper County, 30 new cases were reported; 480 cases have been reported since March. No new deaths were reported; 18 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported in the county since March.

Clarke County reported 12 new cases, bringing the case total to 948. No new deaths were reported; the county has had 53 COVID-19 related deaths since March.

In Neshoba County, 31 new cases were reported; the county’s case total is 2,280. One new death was reported; 122 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported since March.

The Department of Health presumes 128,746 people have recovered from COVID-19. The department also reported that there are 199 ongoing outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term-care facilities.