Mississippi now accounts for the most COVID-19 deaths of any state, surpassing New Jersey. But the rate of deaths among pregnant parents and unborn children is alarming state officials.
An estimated one of every 320 residents in the Magnolia State has died due to the coronavirus, and state health officials say that number will continue to grow. More than 9,100 Mississippians died due to COVID in the state with 3 million residents.
“We’re recording well over 2,500 [infections] a day … far more than we’d like to see,” state health officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs told WGNO. “A lot of that’s going to translate into the tragedy.”
The most concerning demographic: pregnant patients.
Since the pandemic began, 15 pregnant women have died from COVID-19 in Mississippi. More than half of those deaths happened this summer. Dobbs said the women were between 23 and 40-years-old, and about 60% of them were Black. None of them were fully vaccinated.
The virus has also put unborn children at severe risk of death, claiming dozens of young lives.
“We have had late pregnancy loss after 20 weeks among 72 COVID patients in the state of Mississippi — that’s far higher than the background rate for stillbirths that we’ve seen,” Dobbs explained. “To protect the moms and also to protect our babies, we need to prevent COVID infection.”
Doctors say it’s why patients should “unequivocally” get the vaccine if they’re pregnant.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center admitted more than 370 pregnant patients battling COVID-19. Sixteen of those soon-to-be mothers needed ventilators. And at least two newborns tested positive for the virus in the hospital.
“What we want to avoid is, number one, folks getting into the hospital,” Mississippi epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers told the TV station.
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