Thread by @ashtonpittman

NEW: Mississippi hospitals are resorting to "extreme measures" like cramming two people into single-person ICU rooms as critical #COVID19 patients keep pouring into already-full ICUs.

"We’re doubling up on ICU rooms, which we’ve never done before."
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“We’ve actually had to institute a plan where hospitals had to admit patients whether they had room or not,” Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said. “They just have to find a place for them."
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"We’ve had people die in rural areas, sadly, because they did not have access to referrals for critical care," said Dr. Dobbs. "We've just had to basically put the pressure on our health partners to make sure they take care of everybody as best they can.”
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“We saw an outbreak at a gender-reveal party recently, which drives me crazy. That’s something that’s totally not necessary. We saw an outbreak with 103 cheerleading teams that came down to Jackson to compete," MS State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said.mississippifreepress.org/7746/we-have-i…

“The most dangerous thing to do in Mississippi right now is to go to a funeral,” said Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs.

“We’ve seen funeral after funeral that came from a funeral.”
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When four top Mississippi doctors urged Gov. Tate Reeves to issue a statewide mask mandate to save the health care system last month, he criticized them as "so-called experts," saying he would stick to issuing county-level mask mandates for worst hit areas.mississippifreepress.org/7746/we-have-i…

When he rejected medical leaders' call for a state mask mandate last month, only 22 of Mississippi's 82 counties met Reeves' criteria for a county-level mask mandate.

Today, 78 of the state's 82 counties meet that criteria. But still—no statewide order.mississippifreepress.org/7746/we-have-i…

As Mississippi reached the worst stage of the COVID-19 crisis, Gov. Tate Reeves has stopped holding regular press briefings.

During the less severe summer wave from June-August, Reeves held 29 press conferences.

Since October, he's held just six. mississippifreepress.org/7746/we-have-i…

Mississippi's 5,800 excess deaths so far this year are nearing the estimated raw death toll from the 1918 flu pandemic, when about 6,200 Mississippians died from the so-called “Spanish Flu." (Mississippi’s population was about ⅓ smaller then). mississippifreepress.org/7746/we-have-i…

The 1918 stat covers pandemic deaths in Mississippi from 1918-1920 (it took years to develop the vaccine).

My husband @wspittman wants me to be clear about why I referred to the "so-called 'Spanish Flu,'" so here is that context with alt text.

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To be clear, there was no vaccine for the 1918 flu—the pandemic lasted for two years, but wasn't ended by a vaccine. It wasn't until the early 1930s that scientists understood the nature of influenza as a virus, & the US approved the first flu vaccines years later in the 40s.