As the COVID-19 Delta variant continues to rage through Mississippi, the City of Meridian is helping residents stay safe by distributing masks and hand sanitizer throughout the area.

Three distributions sites are planned for 9-11 a.m. Saturday, where masks and hand sanitizer will be distributed to residents on a first come first serve basis.

The distributions will be at North Hills Shopping Center, 4521 35th Ave., the Sammie Davidson Complex, 1617 College Dr., and the Velma Young Community Center, 2400 16th Ave.

In a news conference Friday, Mayor Jimmie Smith urged residents to wear masks to slow virus transmission as cases threatened to overwhelm local hospitals.

“It’s imperative we realize our Meridian hospitals are at capacity,” he said. “If someone gets ill, has a heart attack…the hospitals’ capacity to treat them is gone.”

Smith had earlier announced a mask mandate for city workers, and all visitors to city-owned buildings would need to wear masks while inside. Though not mandatory, city officials encouraged residents to wear masks in public places and get vaccinated if possible.

The city’s efforts come as coronavirus cases reach record highs, with the state reporting 133 deaths Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We are still seeing a whole lot of cases,” State Epidemiologist Paul Byers said in a press conference Wednesday. “We are nowhere out of this.”

Deaths from coronavirus continue to disproportionally be older Mississippians, Byers said, but data show cases climbing in children ages 5 to 17. About half of the deaths reported, Byers said, were people over the age of 65. However, he said, MSDH was reporting its sixth pediatric death Wednesday.

“We are sadly reporting out today a death in a child less than five years of age,” he said.

Although cases remain at peak levels, Byers said there was cause for cautious optimism in the data, which appeared to show cases beginning to level out.

“We have begun to see some flattening out of our hospitalizations,” he said, adding it was still too early to know if the trend would hold, “A couple of days does not a trend make.”

The Mississippi Department of Health reported 341 new cases in Lauderdale County for the week of Aug.7-14. The county has seen 10,219 cases of coronavirus and 262 deaths since the pandemic began in January 2020.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Anderson Regional Medical Center reported 46 coronavirus patients in the hospital, with 22 patients in the ICU and 10 on ventilators. The hospital reported 97 percent of patients were not vaccinated.

Statewide, data from MSDH show 1,646 Mississippians were hospitalized Tuesday with confirmed coronavirus infections. Of those cases, 484 patients were reported to be in the ICU and 342 patients were on ventilators. An additional 52 patients were hospitalized with suspected coronavirus infections.

Unfortunately, Byers said, Mississippi Poison Control had also seen an increase in calls related to Ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug commonly used to deworm livestock. Some Mississippians, he said, appear to have been self-medicating with the medicine in an attempt to cure themselves of COVID-19.

“Please do not self-medicate with animal medicines,” he said.

Additional healthcare personnel

Mississippi Emergency Management Executive Director Stephen McCraney announced Tuesday that Rush Foundation Hospital and Anderson Regional Medical Center were two of the 61 hospitals throughout the state to request additional healthcare personnel to help alleviate the strain on the state’s healthcare system.

“Medical staffing provided by the state is for the COVID-19 mission to address the surge of patients due to the Delta Variant. Our staff has worked tirelessly to give our hospitals the relief they need and deserve. We are working with FEMA to secure reimbursement for these contracts worth roughly $10 million a week statewide for eight and a half weeks. MEMA stands ready to coordinate any additional resources needed,” McCraney said.

MEMA has contracted with four vendors — H&S, Snapnurse, GQR and Maxim — to provide more than 1,000 medical personnel to increase capacity in Mississippi hospitals. The requested staff include 808 nurses, 193 respiratory therapists, 22 nurse practitioners, three certified registered nurse anesthetists and 20 paramedics. Medial staff deployed to 50 hospitals on Tuesday, with staff arriving at 11 additional locations by the end of the week.

“Our top priority is to ensure that every Mississippian who can get better with quality care receives that care,” Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday. “We are grateful for those that are answering the call to alleviate the pressure on our healthcare workers. To the current healthcare staff in the state, we thank you for your continued dedication to our fellow Mississippians.”

Health officials and community leaders continue to urge residents to protect themselves by getting vaccinated against the coronavirus. As of Tuesday, 37 percent of Lauderdale County residents are fully vaccinated, and 45 percent have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Mississippi, however, continues to lag behind the national vaccination rate of 52 percent, with MSDH reporting 38 percent of residents had been fully vaccinated.

Byers said the state has seen an increase in Mississippians receiving the vaccine over the past few weeks. MSDH reported 81,510 shots — first, second and third doses combined — were given last week, the highest weekly number the state has seen since April 17.

Additionally, Byers said he hoped the FDA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine Monday would encourage more residents to get the vaccine.

“For folks who’ve been on the fence about that approval, now is the time to do something about that,” he said.

For those that do contract the coronavirus, the state has ramped up its ability to offer monoclonal antibody treatments, which have been shown to reduce the severity of the virus and decrease hospitalizations.

Currently, monoclonal antibody treatments are offered at 170 locations throughout the state. In Lauderdale County, both Anderson Regional Medical Center and Rush Foundation Hospital are able to give monoclonal antibody treatment.

“We know that monoclonal antibodies, if given early in the course of the infection, do significantly reduce the severity of the virus,” Byers said.

Mississippians needing monoclonal antibody treatments can call the MSDH hotline to be connected to treatment providers at 877-978-6453.

For more information about COVID-19, vaccination locations or monoclonal antibody treatments, visit msdh.ms.gov.