Texas and Mississippi remain at the center of a resurgence of nationwide COVID cases, deaths, and hospitalizations. 1,734 Americans died of COVID on Aug. 17, the highest single day number of deaths since April 8. On Aug. 19, the U.S. registered 85,000 CVOID hospitalizations, nearly seven times the level of mid-June.
While some report this as Phase 4 of the COVID crisis which struck the United States in essentially March 2020, the possibility may be raised that this is the start of a new phase one, marked by the predominance of Delta and Delta-plus virus (The “plus” of the variant’s name refers to its K417N spike protein mutation). The Delta variant is twice as transmissible as the original coronavirus, and the viral load is roughly 1,000 times higher in people infected with the Delta variant, within four days of exposure, than with the original coronavirus strain. In addition, people who have recovered from COVID or been fully vaccinated are more susceptible to infection from the Delta variant than the original strain. This requires revisiting what would be necessary to achieve herd immunity, and even whether it is possible with current vaccines.
In Mississippi, where only 36% of the population is fully vaccinated, state health officials are asking for federal help because the state’s hospital system is on the brink of failure; more than 1,500 people in the state are hospitalized, filling nearly 400 intensive care unit beds, with no new beds available. The virus has struck hard at the University of Mississippi’s Medical Center, which is a premier medical center, and the state’s only Level 1 trauma center—a designation indicating that the medical campus is well-staffed to handle life-threatening emergencies. Because its beds are full, the University of Mississippi Medical Center has transformed part of its parking garage into a 50-bed field hospital to meet demand. Now, a Christian charity, the Samaritan’s Purse, has built an additional facility on the campus, staffed by a team of 53 medical workers.
The virus shows no sign of abating among young people. Less than a month into the new school year, more than 20,000 students, or nearly 5% of children in Mississippi’s public schools, have been sent home to quarantine.
In Texas, state officials have requested five mortuary trucks from the Federal Emergency Management Administration, as a precaution, because they may run out of places to put the new COVID dead. The trucks will first go to San Antonio and then be transported around the state as needed. Nearly 12,000 people in Texas are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, a 71% jump over the last 14 days, and around 160 people a day are dying from the virus, a 307% increase, according to the New York Times.
