Delta Variant 'Like a Tsunami' in Mississippi, State Health Official Says

The Mississippi Department of Health reported 2,094 cases of COVID-19 on Friday and eight COVID-related deaths. This news comes as the department counted more than 14,000 new cases over the past two weeks.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials reported that the Delta variant continues to serve as the primary spreader of COVID-19 across the United States, with the strain accounting for at least 93 percent of all sequenced cases, as outlined in recent CDC estimates.

According to numbers gathered by Our World in Data, Mississippi ranks as the second-least vaccinated state in the U.S., with just 34.8 percent of the population fully vaccinated. It's barely better than the least-vaccinated state, Alabama, which shows a vaccination rate of 34.6 percent.

"We're seeing a phenomenal increase in daily reported cases of COVID, and this is entirely attributable to the Delta variant, which is sweeping over Mississippi like a tsunami," state Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said during a press briefing Friday.

Dobbs said the state now averages 144 new COVID patients a day, with 178 new hospitalizations. As of Thursday, there were 1,147 COVID-19 patients in Mississippi's hospitals and Dobbs said the state's Intensive Care Units were full.

Republican Governor Tate Reeves said during a press conference last week that the federal recommendation to wear masks indoors was "foolish" and "harmful." He said the order "has nothing to do with rational science."

"In Mississippi, we believe in freedom," he added.

The CDC reports that wearing a mask indoors "maximizes" protection against the Delta variant and helps to prevent spreading the virus to others.

Mississippi has not gone as far as Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, which implemented bans against localities instituting mask mandates. With Reeves' focus on freedom, the choice to get the vaccine or COVID appear to be the only two options. Dobbs warned that at some point "almost everyone" will brush against the virus.

"Like we've been saying for a long time: It's inevitable that eventually almost everyone is either going to get the vaccine or get COVID," Dobbs said. "The good thing is that if you get the vaccine, you protect yourself and your family. But, if you get COVID, not only do you get COVID, but you're going to share it with maybe eight, or so, of your close friends, family and colleagues."

The news comes as the Biden administration has implemented new measures to boost vaccination rates. The actions include requiring unvaccinated federal employees to submit to regular testing, requiring military members to get the shot, reimbursing businesses for employees who take off to get the shot, hosting pop-up vaccination clinics at schools, and encouraging states to offer $100 incentives.