The top health official in Mississippi issued an apology Tuesday night after he posted a tweet that misreported the number of children currently receiving life support in the fight against COVID-19.
State health officer Thomas Dobbs said that the information he initially shared was based in part on hospital reports that were later corrected.
A tweet Dobbs posted earlier on TuesdayIt has been deleted, saying that 12 children in Mississippi are being treated for COVID-19 infection in the intensive care unit of the hospital, and 10 of them are on ventilators. Dobbs later released an update stating that there were seven children in the intensive care unit, two of which were on ventilators.
Very personal apology-there are 7 children in the intensive care unit and 2 of them use ventilators (life support). A hospital has corrected the report it gave us last night. Yes-7 children with COVID.
Please be safe, if you are over 12 years old-please protect yourself
— Thomas Dobbs (@TCBPubHealth) July 14, 2021
Dobbs shared an update Twitter Noted that he apologized for the confused “great personal apology”.
“MS has 7 children in the intensive care unit and 2 of them are on ventilators (life support). A hospital has corrected [sic] Report to us since last night. Yes-7 children have COVID,” he tweeted.
Mississippi Department of Health (MSDH) told Weekly newspaper The department added that as of July 13, the updated figures were correct. All 7 children are between 17 and 1 year old.
The number of COVID-19 infections in Mississippi has been on the rise, and MSDH reported 641 new cases and 5 deaths on Wednesday. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the state has reported more than 325,700 cases and more than 7,400 deaths.
Nicholas Cam/AFP via Getty Images
In recent weeks, health officials in Mississippi have warned residents of the Delta variant of the virus, which was first reported in India and has spread throughout the United States.
MSDH said: “Delta is now the main strain circulating in the state and is responsible for most of the cases detected so far.” Weekly newspaper“Between June 15 and July 9, Delta variants accounted for 80% of all sequenced samples.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified the Delta variant as “possibly more transmissible than other COVID-19 strains.”
Concerned about the spread of the delta virus, Dobbs and other state health officials encourage older Mississippi and people with underlying health problems to take precautions, such as wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, and avoiding large social gatherings to limit their contact The risk of virus. As of July 14, MSDH records showed that an estimated 35% of the state’s residents had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 31% of the state’s population had been vaccinated.
MSDH said: “We are still seeing COVID-19 cases in MS; this is not over yet, we may see cases continue to increase.” “Our vaccination rate for eligible children is very low, and COVID can cause children Severely ill and hospitalized. Now is the time for everyone eligible for vaccination.”
