Mississippi Today (https://mississippitoday.org/author/ehensley/)
Erica Hensley, a native of Atlanta, has been working as an investigative reporter for Mississippi Today since May 2018. She is a Knight Foundation fellow for our newsroom’s collaboration with local TV station WLBT and curates The Inform[H]er, our monthly women and girls’ newsletter. She is the 2019 recipient of the Doris O'Donnell Innovations in Investigative Journalism Fellowship. Erica received a bachelor’s in print journalism and political science from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and a master’s in health and medical journalism from the University of Georgia Grady College for Journalism and Mass Communication.
One week after issuing a proclamation lifting telemedicine restrictions for all providers, the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure reversed course and issued a new mandate. The new rule, which came after a deluge of new applications, said out-of-state physicians can only practice telemedicine with existing patients during the coronavirus pandemic
As of Wednesday, Oklahoma and South Carolina rank just behind Mississippi, at 30 and 27 percent, respectively. Mississippi also has the 14th most hospitalizations in the nation, data show
The move comes as a top medical official wrote a letter warning that “our health system will be overwhelmed” without swift statewide action from Reeves to slow the spread of coronavirus in Mississippi
After a quick spike in cases in Lauderdale County, executive order mandates that residents there shelter in place after through April 14. Governor said more county shelter-in-place orders are likely to be issued in coming days
The new strategy would be based in part on the processes used successfully in South Korea to not only treat and quarantine the patient with coronavirus, but also to identify that person’s contacts and isolate them. To be effective the state would need to ramp up testing.
Although the numbers fluctuate daily, Mississippi currently has one of the nation’s highest coronavirus infection rates based on population. Gov. Tate Reeves has so far declined to issue a statewide lockdown order
Mississippi hospitals say they are prepared for the coronavirus. But if the virus spreads according to projections, are there enough intensive-care unit beds in the state?
Doctors can submit more patient samples for testing. More lab test kits available but supply still limited. ‘We (public) are where we need to be with concern. Some people are too concerned, some people aren’t concerned enough … Most people are not going to get COVID-19. But more people are going to get sick,’ state’s top health officer said
The state health department has the capacity to test in-house, but is currently still using its original CDC test kit that provided 225 individual tests
Mississippi sees the nation’s highest rate of both c-sections and preterm births, which correlate with the state’s high infant mortality rates. Sisters in Birth pairs community health workers to women with low incomes and low-risk pregnancies to provide support throughout and after their pregnancy
The state has passed 6-week and 15-week abortion bans. Both laws are winding through the courts and could ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, challengers of Jackson’s “buffer zone” law recently scored a court victory.
Gov. Reeves said he currently has no plans to ask the Legislature for increased corrections department funding
As of Jan. 3, at least five prisoners at three Mississippi correctional facilities were confirmed dead in disturbances at jails and prisons. These deaths come amid a series of violent disturbances reported via social media and news outlets
In the past four decades, at least $50 million in taxpayer funds, loans, grants as well as private investment has been spent or committed to redevelopment efforts in the historic African American district. Now that a six-year court fight is over, neighbors and city leaders say they have renewed hope for a Farish Street comeback
Although recent changes have chipped away at many of the ACA tenets and left some consumers confused about just what remains, Mississippi enrollments through the federal exchange are poised to top last year’s numbers. The enrollment period runs through Dec. 15