Despite the notion that coronavirus is about as troublesome as the flu, federal statistics say tens of thousands more Americans died this winter of COVID-19 compared to influenza.
Meanwhile, Mississippi crept past 10,000 cases of the virus Wednesday.
One thing is clear — this isn’t the flu.
As of May 2, there were an estimated 39 million cases of influenza among Americans throughout the 2019-20 flu season that resulted in about 400,000 hospitalizations and 24,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in January, nearly 1.3 million Americans have fallen sick and nearly 84,000 had died as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University.
A University of Washington biostatistician, among other specialists, has said the true rate of coronavirus infection may never be known and it’s likely those figures are incomplete.
When the outbreak began, many health officials described it as a flu-like illness that caused severe respiratory symptoms among the infected.
Over the coming weeks, it became clear that the COVID-19 is caused by infection from a new coronavirus — the same sort of virus that caused an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, also known as SARS, in 2003 — and not a particularly nasty strain of influenza.
But another sinister development has taken the reins in recent days, demanding the attention of officials in the medical field. Reports out of Asia and Europe indicate severe inflammatory symptoms among children who had contracted coronavirus.
Doctors at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans have identified three cases of Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome, a condition similar in its effects to Kawasaki’s Disease, which causes an inflammation in organs, or toxic shock syndrome, which can shut down organs.
Health officials warned there may be another two potential cases of the syndrome at Children’s Hospital New Orleans.
Some media reports included Mississippi in a list of states where health officials had identified pediatric cases of the syndrome, but representatives of the Mississippi State Department of Health said Wednesday that they are not aware of any cases.
“Mississippi has had no reports of pediatric inflammatory syndrome in relation to COVID-19,” Director of Emergency Preparedness Communications Elizabeth Grey said.
The syndrome appears to cause an overreaction of the immune system that damages organs, including the heart, kidneys and liver, and can affect children of any age. Symptoms for parents to look out for include fever, skin rash, redness of the whites of the eyes, cracked lips and tongue, abdominal pain, lack of appetite, vomiting and trouble breathing.
In other news, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported 182 new coronavirus infections and eight new deaths Wednesday afternoon for a total of 465 deaths and 10,090 infections. Pike County recorded no new infections or deaths for only the second time since March 11.
State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said statewide rates of hospitalization, ICU treatment and ventilator usage remained constant.
“So far this year, of the 465 deaths, we have seen 45% of those in residents of long-term care settings. This is why we are going to continue an aggressive testing approach in long-term care facilities,” Byers said.
Byers said MEMA disbursed 71,000 masks to the seven counties that saw renewed restrictions Tuesday due to outbreaks.
Gov. Tate Reeves said renters need to make plans to pay their rent and noted that the statewide suspension on evictions will come to an end on June 1.
