Health officials in Mississippi, the least vaccinated state in the US, have revealed that more than 75 per cent of coronavirus infections during a 10-day period in June were Delta variant cases.
Thomas Dobbs, the state’s health officer, said in a message on Twitter that 78 per cent of Covid-19 cases from June 16 to 25 were the more transmissible Delta variant, which was first identified in India.
The state was “now seeing the predicted rise in case, hospitalisations and Covid-like illness”, Dobbs said in the tweet, urging residents to “be careful” if they were not immune or vaccinated.
In the week ended July 3, 163 residents had been admitted to hospitals across the state, up from a 2021 low of 83 a fortnight earlier, Dobbs tweeted in a chart. There were 896 visits for Covid-like symptoms to clinics or emergency departments, up from a two-month low of 772 in the week ended June 12.
Following Dobbs’ tweet, Mississippi’s health department revealed a further 379 new cases had been reported over the past day. That is down from 649 reported on Tuesday, which covered the long weekend, and compares with the 242 daily cases reported on Friday.
A further 11 fatalities were reported, taking the state’s toll since the start of the pandemic to 7,436. Dobbs said in a follow-up tweet that the age range for deaths was people aged in their 40s up to 90s and that 10 of the 11 fatalities were unvaccinated.
Mississippi’s vaccination rollout is the least progressed among US states. At least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine has been administered to 46.3 per cent of the state’s adult population, compared with the national average of 67.1 per cent, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of July 6.
Mississippi, at 29.9 per cent, is the only US state with less than 30 per cent of its population fully vaccinated. That is less than half the 66.1 per cent of country-leading Vermont and compares with the national average of 47.5 per cent.
During a press briefing on June 30, Dobbs said “it’s a good idea for folks to wear masks indoors if they’re in public spaces”, but that he did not expect Mississippi would revive its statewide mask mandate.
The recommendation last week put Mississippi on a growing list of places including Los Angeles, Illinois, Kansas and Canada where public officials and leaders urged residents to continue wearing masks, even if fully vaccinated, because of the potential risks posed by the Delta variant.