Officials announced Wednesday that Mississippi will be opening a 50-bed hospital in the field. Federal officials will also send medical personnel to treat COVID-19 patients in Mississippi, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in America.
Many Mississippi hospitals are facing staffing and space constraints. It will be located in the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s parking lot and could open Friday.
LouAnn Woodward is the head of UMMC. She said that the facility would help to handle an influx of patients. The field hospital was described by Woodward as “a band-aid.”
Woodward stated that the “big solution” was to control this surge and stop the spread of the virus. We can do this by getting everyone vaccinated.
Here’s WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota state workers will have to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or consent to weekly testing before they can return home, Gov. Wednesday’s announcement was made by Tim Walz.
State agency workers who work in person will need to produce proof of vaccination and attest that they have been vaccinated by Sept. 8. To work on-site, employees who have not been vaccinated will need to be tested negative for the coronavirus no later than Sept. 8.
Walz stated in a statement that “vaccination is the best way for employees and people we serve to stay safe and ensure our economic recovery doesn’t get derailed by the delta variant.”
The Democratic governor pointed out that other Minnesota colleges, employers, and health systems have also announced similar requirements for students and workers. According to the governor’s office at least seven states have requirements for vaccinations for public employees.
O’FALLON (Mo. Missouri Department of Health and Senior Service’s COVID-19 Dashboard shows that the state is close to a milestone: 10,000 deaths due to COVID-19.
Officials had reported that there were 9,982 COVID-19-related Missouri deaths since the outbreak.
The Springfield-Greene County Health Department announced Wednesday, that COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 82 people since July 1. According to the health department, there were 67 deaths in July, and 15 in the first 9 days of August.
Steve Edwards, CEO of CoxHealth, stated that his hospitals see four to six deaths per day and that vaccinations would have prevented “virtually all” of them.
According to state data, there were 3,282 COVID-19 cases newly confirmed on Wednesday. This was the highest one-day number since January. The seven-day average was 2,221. Meanwhile, 2200 Missourians have been infected with the coronavirus. The statewide capacity for intensive care units is 18%.
Springfield had some good news. Katie Towns, Health Director, said that vaccinations increased 40% in July, compared to June. The seven-day average number of cases for Wednesday was 125. This is almost one-third less than a week ago.
Towns stated at a news conference, “But now isn’t the time to relax.” “We need to get more people vaccinated.”
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HONOLULU — Hawaii reinstated social gathering restrictions amid an increase in coronavirus cases.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige, the Hawaii Governor, imposed new restrictions Tuesday in an effort to protect patients with COVID-19 and reduce the spread of the virus to the community.
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the executive order was immediately in effect and restricts social gatherings to a maximum of 10 people indoors and 25 outside. The capacity of bars, restaurants, gyms and churches must be reduced to 50%
Hawaii has more than 500 COVID-19 new cases per day on average, which is twice the rate it had in August 2020 when the state had its highest number of cases.
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PORTLAND, Ore. — Governor. Kate Brown announced an indoor mask requirement for all state residents in response to the rise in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. She is concerned that the state’s healthcare system may be overwhelmed.
Every person over 5 years old in Oregon will have to wear masks indoors, regardless of their vaccination status. Brown had asked local officials to create their own mandates. But, almost all did not.
This new rule applies to all indoor public places, including businesses, grocery shops, indoor entertainment venues, gyms, and businesses. People over two years of age will need to wear masks when taking public transit.
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LITTLE ROCK (Ark.) After a temporary blockade by a judge, the University of Arkansas is now requiring masks to be worn on its campuses.
Wednesday’s unanimous approval by the board of trustees saw the requirement that campuses develop indoor policies regarding face masks, regardless of their vaccination status. This decision comes just days after a judge in Arkansas issued a preliminary order against Arkansas’ ban on mask mandates for schools and other government entities.
Since that ruling, at least three-dozen school districts and charter schools have approved mask mandates. Tuesday’s statement by the University of Central Arkansas stated that masks would be required to be worn indoors.
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OKLAHOMA CITY — The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Oklahoma rose to 1,000 Wednesday, the Oklahoma State Department of Health reported.
The department reported that there were 2,199 COVID-19 new cases. 1,102 people were hospitalized, and 294 were under intensive care. From 1,197 on July 26, the seven-day average of 2,031 cases per day was higher than that of 1,197.
According to state health officials, a shortage in nurses and an increase in hospitalizations is pushing Oklahoma hospitals towards their limits. This is due to the high number of COVID-19-infected patients from the highly contagious delta strain and low COVID-19 vaccine rates.
According to Johns Hopkins University research data, Oklahoma was seventh in terms of the number per capita of new cases. It had 653.7. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 41% of Oklahomans had been fully vaccinated by Tuesday, compared with a national average 49.9%.
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SAN FRANCISCO — California will be the first state to require teachers and school personnel to have their COVID-19 tests performed weekly.
As schools return from summer vacation, there is a mandate to provide statewide vaccinations for K-12 teachers. This comes amid rising concerns about the highly contagious delta variant. Democratic Governor. Gavin Newsom made the announcement Wednesday while visiting a school in San Francisco Bay Area that had reopened following summer break.
In recent days, several large school districts across the state issued similar requirements, including San Francisco and Oakland, San Jose, and the Long Beach Unified school district.
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ANKARA (Turkey) — Turkey may mandate regular negative PCR testing for vaccine-refractory parents to help the country return to face-toface education.
Fahrettin Koca, Health Minister, says that the government is determined to reopen schools in September 6.
Koca stated in a televised speech that “vaccination must be indispensable if our education and business lives are to continue uninterrupted.” “Parents, especially, will either finish their vaccinations or have to check that they aren’t carrying the disease,” Koca said in a televised speech.
This announcement is made as COVID-19 deaths and infections continue to increase.
Wednesday saw the nation report 27,356 new infections in the past 24 hours. This is the highest daily infection rate since May 4. In the past 24 hours, 128 deaths occurred.
On Twitter, earlier, the minister stated that half of all adults in Turkey were fully vaccinated.
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PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the coronavirus crisis is not over after a meeting of the government focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Macron appealed to all French citizens who are eligible for the vaccine. Macron stated that “the health crisis does not exist… We will continue to live several months with this virus.”
France has 56% of its population fully vaccinated. France has faced an increase in daily infections for the past few weeks. This is due to the highly contagious Delta variant.
France sends medical assistance to French territories overseas in the Caribbean. COVID-19 is threatening the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe.
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NEW YORK — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges all pregnant women to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
This advice is being given as hospitals in high-risk areas across the U.S. are seeing alarming numbers of mothers-to be who have not been vaccinated against the virus. Reiterating recent advice from top obstetricians, the CDC recommendation is in line with other medical experts.
The agency has previously advised pregnant women to get vaccinated. The coronavirus is more dangerous to pregnant women. According to the CDC, only 23% of them have received at least one dose.
“The vaccines are safe, effective, and it is urgent to increase vaccinations because we face the highly transmissible Delta variant and see severe outcomes due to COVID-19 among pregnant women who have not been vaccinated,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of CDC, stated in a statement.
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COLUMBIA (S.C.) — South Carolina has exceeded 10,000 COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday. Health officials are urging those who have not been vaccinated to get them, as the state lags nationally when it comes to vaccine uptake.
Dr. Edward Simmer is the director of South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. He stated that vaccination is the only way to prevent more deaths.
Nearly 2,000,000 South Carolinians, less than half the eligible population, have been fully vaccinated to date.
Since the outbreak began, state health officials have been tracking nearly 650,000 cases of coronavirus. There have been 2,560 new cases and 15 deaths. The average case count is approaching 3,000 per day amid a Delta variant surge that surpasses levels last summer.
Simmer states that we are still in danger unless we can reach a critical number of South Carolinians who have been vaccinated to stop COVID-19 from spreading. “The longer it takes for the virus to evolve into new, more difficult-to-control varieties, the greater the risk,” Simmer says.
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SANTIAGO (Chile) — Chile began giving booster shots of a COVID-19 vaccination to over-55s who had received two doses.
Sebastian Pinera, President of AstraZeneca, was present at the first AstraZeneca booster shot given to patients who have received previous Sinovac vaccinations.
Pinera stated that Chile was the first country in Latin America and the world to begin a vaccination program. “Now we are at the stage where we must take the final steps.”
After a July study by Chile’s Ministry of Health, the booster dose was administered. It showed that the effectiveness of Sinovac in preventing COVID-19 symptoms had decreased by 5% in comparison to June.
According to a government study, effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine (second-most widely used in South America) decreased by 3% over the same period. The booster dose is only available to Sinovac-vaccinated individuals. 72% of Chileans have been vaccinated with the Chinese vaccine.
The study shows that both Sinovac and Pfizer are highly effective in preventing death and hospitalizations.
