Mississippi Has the Highest Rate of COVID-19 Hospitalizations of Any State

Doctors test hospital staff with flu-like symptoms for COVID-19 in set-up tents to triage possible COVID-19 patients outside before they enter the main Emergency department area at St. Barnabas hospital in the Bronx in New York City on March 24, 2020. (Misha Friedman/Getty Images)

Mississippi now has the highest rate of CCP virus hospitalizations out of anywhere in the United States, according to new data.

Currently, 31 percent of COVID-19 patients are hospitalized across the state, according to state health department data gathered by The COVID Tracking Project.

The news site Mississippi Today reported the high number of hospitalizations, saying that 332 people are hospitalized out of 1,073 infections of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus as of Wednesday.

That was before 104 cases were reported on Thursday by the state’s department of health, WTOK reported, which also reported that around 31 percent of all patients need to be hospitalized. So far, 26 people have already died from the CCP virus in Mississippi.

Oklahoma and South Carolina rank behind Mississippi, at 30 and 27 percent, respectively, according to the website. Meanwhile, New York state has the most infections and deaths in the United States.

The Mississippi Department of Health (MSDH) said, “Since many COVID-19 tests are now being done by private providers, we’re no longer reporting the number tested only in the MSDH Public Health Laboratory. State laboratory numbers alone do not provide an accurate picture of testing statewide,” WLBT reported.

The first death from the virus in the state was reported on March 19.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves issued a shelter-in-place order for the entire state on Wednesday and noted that it is the best way to reduce strain on hospitals.

State health officer Thomas Dobbs said that gatherings are the cause of most cases statewide.

“We need to use this tool (shelter-in-place) to slow things down such that we can process patients through the system safely to provide all patients what they need,” Dobbs said, according to Mississippi Today.