The number of people who have fallen ill with coronavirus in Pike County increased to 247 Tuesday morning, an increase of 27 since Friday afternoon. There were 11 deaths countywide since March 11.
State figures are surging and health officials said the numbers of the ill and the dead will continue to climb as long as individuals ignore social distancing and other health and safety guidelines.
Health officials reported 353 new infections and 20 new deaths statewide Tuesday morning for a total of 20,013 cases and nearly 900 deaths.
“We’re not seeing any decline,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Monday afternoon.
Dobbs said the number of infections continues to increase steadily week to week, indicating that people are gathering in large groups and not wearing face coverings in public despite repeated requests from health officials to do so.
He said several recent outbreaks were traced back to large public gatherings with little possibility of social distancing.
“If we have waves and waves of transmission, there really is no way to prepare for the massive numbers of coronavirus which we might see in the fall,” Dobbs said. “Wear a mask when you’re in public or at work when you can’t practice social distancing.”
Dobbs has repeatedly reinforced the guidance that wearing a facemask is imperative to slow the transmission of coronavirus and protect vulnerable Mississippians, but those recommendations appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
Although mask guidance is just that — a recommendation — Dobbs and Reeves did not rule out the possibility of a statewide mandate enforcing mask-wearing policies. They said such a decision is unlikely, but that continued virus transmission caused occasion for its consideration.
“I would absolutely tell you that as we go forward and monitor the data that comes in, it’s less likely that we would see a statewide mandate,” Reeves said. “But it’s very possible that we could see a spike in any one county that would (cause) Dr. Dobbs and I to sit down and have a conversation and say we need to enforce more measures in certain areas of the state.”
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday that national guidance initially discouraged wearing a mask because emergency management officials were worried about shortages and needed more time to procure masks for use in hospitals and other medical facilities.
Dobbs said transmission among members of youth summer sports teams is discouraging and a major cause for concern.
“Anyone could have it at any given time,” Dobbs said. “Forty-four percent of cases probably come from asymptomatic people.”
He said the outbreak isn’t anywhere close to over and that continued transmission could prompt county and even another statewide lockdown.
“On average, one of 100 people or maybe one of 150 people are going to be contagious with coronavirus,” Dobbs said. “This isn’t over and it’s likely to get worse in the future.”
Gov. Tate Reeves reinforced Dobbs’ position.
“We are not seeing significant declines, either,” he said. “We are seeing upticks and not downticks — it is important that if you go out in public that you wear a mask.”
