Mississippi moms suffer another grim statistic: The nation’s highest rate of stillbirths

Mississippi once again has the country’s highest rate of fetal death, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.

Pandemic exacted a steep toll on people with disabilities

Legally blind and alone, Katrina Byrd of Jackson, Mississippi, was reeling from her partner’s death from ALS when the pandemic sent her into isolation, cutting her off from the services and help she needed.

Shattering ordinary people’s mental health

Dillion Swindle of Oxford had just gotten his dream promotion and relocated to Louisiana when COVID-19 smacked the nation in 2020.

Diabetes and COVID forge deadly ‘perfect storm’

Amid the worst pandemic in a century, Mississippi is leading the nation in increased diabetes deaths per capita, according to a just-released study.

News, Diabetes, coronavirus, Coronavirus Pandemic, Public HealthKatherine MitchellAugust 18, 2021Diabetes, diabetes deaths, covid, covid-19, coronavirus, UMMC, Mississippi diabetes deaths, delta variant, field hospital, hospital tents

On the frontlines of COVID fighting fears and misinformation

With COVID-19 cases climbing into the thousands from the Delta variant and deaths once again reaching double digits, the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting asked Dr. Dan Edney for his insights as chief medical officer for the state Department of Health and a clinician.

Coronavirus Pandemic, coronavirus, Public HealthKatherine MitchellJuly 29, 2021Coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, covid-19, health officials, Q&A, pandemic, Frontline workers, COVID, delta variant, Dr. Dan Edney, ICU, vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, MSHD, Mississippi State Department of Health

The History Of Influenza Pandemics By The Numbers

When you see the World Health Organization reporting that as of April 24, 2021, “there have been 145,216,414 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3,079,390 deaths, reported to WHO,” it’s easy to think that the world has never seen anything like this. However, that assessment would be wrong.

News, Coronavirus Pandemic, coronavirusKatherine MitchellJune 4, 2021WHO, pandemic, influenza pandemic, covid-19, Spanish Flu, CDC, Asian Flu, 1957, Influenza pandemic, H1N1, swine flu

Physical therapy ‘absolutely vital’ to some COVID patients, healthcare worker discovers

Tamika Love, a graduate of Jackson State University and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, is a doctor of physical therapy at Baptist Hospital in Tennessee.

Coronavirus Pandemic, coronavirusKatherine MitchellApril 12, 2021Coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, covid-19, health officials, Q&A, pandemic, PPE, Frontline workers, physical therapist

Vaccine Skepticism in Black Community Rooted in History. ‘We have been used as guinea pigs and lab rats,’ Clarksdale pastor says.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, communities of color have been ravaged disproportionately by the virus. And as the world celebrates the distribution of vaccines, these same communities who need them most are shying away from the cure.

Mississippi News, News, coronavirus, Coronavirus PandemicKatherine MitchellFebruary 22, 2021coronavirus vaccine, covid vaccine, covid-19, black community, communities of color, BIPOC, racism, capitol riot, Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, Henrietta Lack, HeLa cells, James Marion Sims, enslaved Africans, BLM

Tupelo nurse practitioner adds up COVID’s cost in lives and job security

Janice Driskell is a nurse practitioner, who works at in a clinic in Tupelo.

Mississippi News, Coronavirus Pandemic, coronavirusKatherine MitchellJanuary 25, 2021Coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, Coronavirus and Mississippi, Covid and Mississippi, covid-19, Mississippi, Jackson, health officials, Q&A, pandemic, PPE, Janice Driskell, immunocompromised

Nonprofit COO expands minority health outreach to include rapid COVID-19 testing

Mauda L. Monger is chief operating officer at My Brother’s Keeper Inc. in Jackson

From the Frontlines: Emergency nurse faces daily battle with COVID-19

Lacey Ward is a registered nurse in the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Adult Emergency Department.

Two months after mask mandate ends, Mississippi sees record ‘uncontrolled spread’ of COVID-19

Since Gov. Tate Reeves lifted a statewide mask mandate two months ago, COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed to record levels in Mississippi, where there is now an “uncontrolled spread” of the disease.