Report ranks Mississippi last in the nation for health system performance during pandemic

A new report from The Commonwealth Fund ranked Mississippi last in the nation for health system performance.

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.

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

Mississippi leaders say they can’t expand Medicaid, citing the cost. (What they don’t say is they’ve already expanded it to cover inmates.)

Mississippi makes it impossible for many of the state’s most impoverished to qualify for Medicaid.

Mississippi News, News, Mississippi SpotlightKatherine MitchellFebruary 4, 2021COVID-1 9, covid, Mississippi Medicaid, federal money, expand coverage, medicaid expansion, pandemic, Mississippi Spotlight, Unsteady Pulse, Mississippi inmates, medicaid coverage, MississippiCares, Richard Roberson

Mississippi has already kissed $7B goodbye, thanks to its failure to expand Medicaid. Will the state make that $20B?

KOSCIUSKO — Dr. Tim Alford knew that Mississippians were struggling to get health care before he began working in the emergency room in this small town five years ago.