The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 79 COVID-19 deaths on Dec. 21, topping the previous single-day record of 67 deaths on Aug. 25.

As COVID-19 cases continue to climb and hospital ICU space continues to dwindle, the state’s top health official spoke bluntly about the virus in the state and warned people to limit Christmas and other holiday gatherings this week.

“It’s bad and it’s gonna get worse,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Tuesday in a press conference. “Holidays are weak points for us. We let our guard down, and we allow transmission to occur that doesn’t have to occur.”

Dobbs took time during the press conference to read some information about several of Monday’s reported deaths.

“Eighty-four year old white male. Sixty-seven year-old Black female. Fifty-one year-old white male,” Dobbs said. “… These are people who would be with us for next Christmas, by and large. These are people… they didn’t have to die. If we did a little better, if we collectively were a little better at making sure we didn’t spread COVID, these people would be alive.”

This year, the state has reported 197,691 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4,490 total deaths. To go along with the 79 deaths on Monday, the state reported 2,191 new COVID-19 cases.

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‘They didn’t have to die’: Mississippi sets record for most COVID-19 deaths in a single day

by Adam Ganucheau, Mississippi Today
December 22, 2020

<h1>‘They didn’t have to die’: Mississippi sets record for most COVID-19 deaths in a single day</h1> <p class="byline">by Adam Ganucheau, Mississippi Today <br />December 22, 2020</p> <p>The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 79 COVID-19 deaths on Dec. 21, topping the previous single-day record of 67 deaths on Aug. 25.</p> <p>As <a href="https://mississippitoday.org/2020/12/22/covid-19-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COVID-19 cases continue to climb</a> and hospital ICU space continues to dwindle, the state's top health official spoke bluntly about the virus in the state and warned people to limit Christmas and other holiday gatherings this week.</p> <p>“It's bad and it’s gonna get worse,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Tuesday in a press conference. "Holidays are weak points for us. We let our guard down, and we allow transmission to occur that doesn’t have to occur.”</p> <p>Dobbs took time during the press conference to read some information about several of Monday's reported deaths.</p> <p>“Eighty-four year old white male. Sixty-seven year-old Black female. Fifty-one year-old white male," Dobbs said. “... These are people who would be with us for next Christmas, by and large. These are people... they didn’t have to die. If we did a little better, if we collectively were a little better at making sure we didn’t spread COVID, these people would be alive.”</p> <p>This year, the state has reported 197,691 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4,490 total deaths. To go along with the 79 deaths on Monday, the state reported 2,191 new COVID-19 cases.</p> <div id="viz1608658923312" class="tableauPlaceholder"><a href='https://mississippitoday.org/2020/04/27/covid-19-data/'><img alt=' ' src='https://public.tableau.com/static/images/CO/COVID-19-Numberofdailynewcasesovertime/Dashboard12/1_rss.png' style='border: none' /></a> </div> <p> var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1608658923312'); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0]; if ( divElement.offsetWidth &gt; 800 ) { vizElement.style.width='800px';vizElement.style.height='527px';} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth &gt; 500 ) { vizElement.style.width='800px';vizElement.style.height='527px';} else { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height='694px';} var scriptElement = document.createElement('script'); scriptElement.src = 'https://public.tableau.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js'; vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement); </p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2020/12/22/they-didnt-have-to-die-mississippi-sets-record-for-most-covid-19-deaths-in-a-single-day/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://mississippitoday.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=938245&ga=UA-75003810-1" style="max-width:200px"></p> Copy to Clipboard

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