Harvard health
official: Miss. will become number one in the nation for COVID-19
Coronavirus (Source: AP)
By Justin Dixon | August
2, 2020 at 12:43 PM CDT - Updated August 3 at 4:58 AM
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT)
- Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute Ashish K. Jha predicts that
Mississippi will become number one in the nation for COVID-19 based on numbers
per capita.
“Mississippi will
become [the] nation’s #1 in new cases/population. Already #1 on test
[positivity],” Jha wrote on Twitter.
In a series of tweets,
Jha highlighted several issues that he believes are contributing to the rising
number of positive cases.
Jha first addressed
the state’s COVID-19 testing along with hospitalizations and death rates.
“First, data. Compared
to two weeks ago, Mississippi testing [is] down 8% while cases [are] up 37%. So
that means test positivity is up. Way up. Actually [the] highest in the nation
at 22%. Hospitalizations are up [and the] daily death toll [is] up nearly 2X in
[the] past 2 weeks.”
Despite the increased
numbers of cases and deaths, Governor Tate Reeves does not think another state
shut down is necessary.
“The vast majority of Mississippians are small business owners
and folks who work in small businesses, whereby if they don’t show up to work,
they don’t get paid. If they don’t get paid, they can’t put food on the table
for their kids and grandkids,” Reeves stated last week during a press brief.
