Two months after mask mandate ends, Mississippi sees record ‘uncontrolled spread’ of COVID-19
During a news conference Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, Dr. LouAnn Woodward (at podium), vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, calls for the statewide mask mandate to be resumed. Courtesy of UMMC
This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.
By Jerry Mitchell
Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting
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.
After the mandate ended Sept. 30, Mississippi’s cases rose, as of Dec. 1, from 98,190 to 154,411 (57%) and deaths from 2,969 to 3,836 (29%).
Dr. LouAnn Woodward Courtesy of UMMC
Health and medical officials have called for Reeves to reinstitute the mask mandate, but he held his ground Tuesday. Instead, he expanded county-by-county mask restrictions to 54 of Mississippi’s 82 counties.
As proof a mandate isn’t needed, Reeves said pointed to Louisiana, which has a mandate and nearly 5,000 COVID cases, which is more than double the number in Mississippi. (Politics have played a role in Louisiana, where some lawmakers have insisted that residents shouldn’t have to wear masks.)
Former State Health Officer Dr. Alton Cobb said the mandate should have stayed in place. “It’s so obvious,” he said. “How is wearing a mask such a burden for people? It saves lives.”
A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that. The study in Kansas found that the weekly average for new infections fell by 6% in the two dozen counties that complied with that state’s mask mandate. In the 81 counties that opted out of the order, the rate increased 100%.
Dr. Claude Earl Fox III, a Mississippi native who previously served as state health officer in Alabama, called the coronavirus “an opportunist. It will grab any chance to infect somebody. Because of the unusual nature of the disease, people don’t know when they’re infected.”
Some Americans are insisting they have a right to not wear a mask, he said. “You have the right to kill somebody? You have a right to kill your next door neighbor? I don’t think you have that right.”
He compared it to someone who says they have a right to drink. “OK, do that, but you don’t have a right to drink and drive on the road,” he said. “It’s the same exact thing. You’re putting other people’s lives at risk.”
In late July, Mississippi’s COVID cases peaked at more than 9,000, leading the nation in the percentage of positive tests.
Source: Mississippi State Department of Health
That led Reeves to impose a mask mandate on Aug. 4, joining 33 other states.
Weeks after that mandate, coronavirus cases began to fall. On Sept. 6, he bragged that Mississippi had “the lowest rate of coronavirus reproduction in the country.”
At the end of September, Reeves lifted Mississippi’s mask mandate, reassuring reporters that he could change his strategy if need be.
It didn’t take long to find out. By the end of October, the number of cases and deaths had begun to multiply at a greater rate.
This past weekend, new cases in Mississippi reached a record — nearly 2,000 in a single day. Over the past two weeks, the positivity rate in Mississippi has soared from less than 15% to more than 21%.
In contrast, the city of Jackson, which has kept its mask mandate in place, saw an 11.4% decrease in the infection rate during October, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba said.
In a Facebook live address, Reeves stopped short of reinstituting a statewide mandate. Instead, he ordered 22 counties to wear masks and urging those living in the 60 other counties to “wear a mask, please.”
Lumumba questioned the governor’s decision. “There doesn’t appear to be a rhyme or reason to some of the decisions to reverse the statewide mask mandates,” he told CNBC.
Since these social media posts were made, Mississippi’s positive COVID-19 cases cases rose to 144,544 with 3,729 deaths.
On Nov. 14, Dr. Anita Henderson, a Hattiesburg pediatrician, tweeted out, “State mask mandate worked in Mississippi. Why are we waiting @TateReeves? It is an inconvenience maybe but if it saves lives and keeps businesses open then really what is the harm? I don’t understand the delay.”
Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, replied on Twitter: “Truth. It’s time. We are tired. And worried. Wearing a mask makes a difference. … We don’t have to continue to watch the train wreck. We can change the outcome.”
In a news conference two days later, Woodward said the rising COVID numbers are reminiscent of what Mississippi saw in the summer before the mask mandate was implemented.
In the wake of record-high new infections of COVID (more than 500 teachers and more than 1,000 students, with more than 14,000 students quarantined), an increasing number of schools have switched to online-only learning.
“We all want the kids to be in school. We want there to be after-school activities and sports activities. We just have to keep our guard up,” Woodward said. “The child in K-12 who is positive (for COVID) and has few symptoms may be the person who inadvertently takes it home to their grandparents.”
Dr. Alan Jones, assistant vice chancellor for clinical affairs, said a large part of UMMC’s workforce “is tired, and an increasing number of them are out with COVID or being quarantined.”
Emergency room nurse Lacey Ward said it has been “so defeating to see so many people” in need of care. “When you have a full department and people still walking in the door, you have to figure out how to take care of them,” she said. And when she goes home, she fears she may inadvertently give the disease to her three boys. “I get terrified every day I come home.”
UMMC emergency room nurse Lacey Ward, speaking at the Nov. 23, 2020, news conference, says, when she goes home, she fears she may inadvertently give the disease to her three boys. “I get terrified every day I come home.” Courtesy of UMMC
Health officials have reported zero ICU beds available in Jackson, and some medical clinics are reporting long lines outside.
Even if UMMC were to set up more beds, there isn’t enough staff, Woodard said. “We could not handle a surge of a whole lot more patients. We are at capacity.”
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Mississippi is seeing “record-high numbers, and we’re seeing extreme stress on the health care system.”
He said lack of adherence to mask mandates is a problem. “Masks don’t work when we don’t wear them,” he said.
He said nonessential gatherings, such as “hot tub parties” or students getting together are playing a role in the spread of the virus. Many children are catching COVID-19 and displaying no symptoms, only to infect their parents and grandparents of the disease, he said.
Mississippians need to remain cautious as the holidays approach and hold only small gatherings, preferably outdoors, he said. “It will probably be worse at Christmas.”
The Poverty & the Pandemic is a continuing series from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting and the Pulitzer Center that captures the stories of people and places hit hardest by the nation’s worst pandemic in a century. If you would like to continue receiving these stories, please sign up for our newsletter.
Jerry Mitchell is an investigative reporter for the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization that is exposing wrongdoing, educating and empowering Mississippians, and raising up the next generation of investigative reporters. Sign up for MCIR’s newsletters here.
Email him at Jerry.Mitchell@MississippiCIR.org and follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.