Dobbs apologizes before correcting number of Mississippi children in ICU with COVID

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs issued an apology Tuesday evening before correcting the number of Mississippi children in the ICU with COVID.

“With great and personal apologies - MS with 7 children in ICU with 2 on the ventilator (life support),” Dobbs tweeted.

He explained that a hospital had corrected its report to MSDH from Monday night before adding, “and yes - 7 children with COVID. Please be safe and if you are 12 or older - please protect yourself.”

Tuesday morning, Dobbs tweeted that 12 Mississippi children were in the intensive care unit, including 10 children on life support.

In the last week, there have been 379 children under age 18 diagnosed with COVID-19. On July 6, there had been a total of 42,602 cases in children, with three deaths. There were an additional 74 cases of MISC-C, with four deaths. On July 12, that number increased by 379 cases, bringing the number to 42,981 total cases in children, still with three deaths. The number of MISC-C cases and deaths remained the same.

Ages 65+ still report the most hospitalizations. The highest jump in cases remains in those between the ages of 25-39, which saw 481 new cases reported in the past week. Children 18 and under make up the second-highest jump in cases with 379 new cases reported.

Health officials are encouraging people to get fully vaccinated. If you’re 65 and older, you are asked to avoid indoor mass gatherings, vaccinated or not.

The CDC has classified the delta variant as a concern for these reasons:

• Ability to spread more quickly in people
• Ability to cause either milder or more severe disease in people
• Ability to evade detection by specific viral diagnostic tests
• Decreased susceptibility to therapeutic agents such as monoclonal antibodies
• Ability to evade natural or vaccine-induced immunity

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