Mississippi Health Officials are warning about hospitalizations of children with severe instances of COVID-19 as the delta form spreads fast across the country.
“Be cautious, Delta Surge,” Dobbs warned in a stern tweet Tuesday while providing the latest hospitalizations reports.
Dobbs first stated that 12 children were in the ICU across the state as a result of COVID-19, but subsequently changed his mind after a hospital rectified its data.
“Please be careful and protect yourself if you are 12 or older,” he urged.
COVID-19 infections are less common in children than in adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most people only have minor symptoms, if any at all, however, on rare occasions, severe cases have resulted in hospitalization or death.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center’s assistant vice chancellor for clinical affairs, Dr. Alan Jones, told ABC station WAPT in Jackson, Mississippi, that his institution is presently treating four juvenile COVID-19 patients, two of whom are on ventilators.
Jones told the channel, “We’ve got more pediatric admissions than we did early in the epidemic.”
“We’ve seen pretty much a full takeover of the delta variant for our transmission,” Dobbs said during the briefing, saying that “pretty much all delta” cases are currently being investigated in the state.
Dobbs said there are “concerns about it going ahead, as has been observed in other states” owing to delta, which has become the popular version statewide.
COVID-19 outbreaks have also increased in the state, notably among children, in summer activities, and in nursing facilities, according to Dobbs.
Because of the poor vaccination rate, the state health agency urged people 65 and older, as well as those with chronic medical issues, to stay away from large indoor gatherings for several weeks.
“Our state’s collective under-vaccination has put us all at risk, particularly the most vulnerable,” Dobbs said.