As the nation, including Mississippi and Marion County, continue the fight against the coronavirus, State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs announced on Thursday Mississippi is switching from defensive mode and going on the offensive.
As of press time Thursday, there were a total of 485 confirmed cases statewide with only one case in Marion County. There have been six deaths so far across the state.
Following the models set out in South Korea and Singapore, more will be done to track patients who have the virus and monitor them until they have been cleared. South Korea has a population of more than 51 million people. Currently there are 9,241 cases in South Korea and only 131 deaths, according the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracker. In addition, a total 4,144 have recovered, according to the tracker. In Singapore, where the population is over 5.5 million there have only been 683 cases and just two deaths.
Dobbs, in the press conference with Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday, said the shift involves three steps:
- Basic case finding with isolation and quarantine: It is imperative to find every case, making sure the patient is following strict isolation guidelines. To accomplish this, more testing is needed. Also to investigate who the patient has been around to identify others who have been exposed to COVID-19;
- More aggressive containing outbreaks: Investigate the carrier of the virus so it doesn’t get into the nursing homes or in a gathering such as a funeral. To be more aggressive in measures to prevent the virus from mushrooming even more out of control;
- Community outbreak response: Different areas will have different responses. In counties where the outbreak is running out of control to implement strong testing measures to identify and control the outbreak from going even further.
Dobbs said a collaboration from the state health department, the National Guard and the University of Mississippi Medical Center are teaming up to create the offensive response. The team was going Friday into DeSoto and Coahoma counties offering free drive-by testing. Those who test positive will be followed-up on to ensure they are staying isolated and quarantined to prevent any further outbreak. DeSoto County as of Thursday had 49 cases and Coahoma had 17.
Dobbs said people still must maintain the social distancing. It has definitely helped, but there will be an increase case wise and most likely more deaths within the next couple of weeks, he said.
“It is not going away: it is just starting to ramp up,” Dobbs said.
He also said right now people need to assume everyone has it.
At the Columbia Police Department briefing Thursday morning, Chief Michael Kelly said it was important to continue to educate the public and make them understand how serious this is.
An example he gave was Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans. More than 50 health care workers have tested positive for COVID-19, which has more than 300 health care workers in quarantine. “It is overwhelming the medical system there,” Kelly said.
Kelly also said U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized counterfeit items, such as personal protection equipment, testing equipment, pharmaceuticals and/or supplements, which are substandard to hospitals and nursing homes.
