Mississippi, one of the least-vaccinated states in the U.S., has opened its second field hospital to treat a surge of coronavirus patients.
The Christian charity relief group Samaritan’s Purse arrived in Jackson, Miss., with more than 50 medical professionals, setting up tents with 32 beds in a garage at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Recently, an emergency field hospital with federal backing was set up elsewhere on the medical centre campus.
Health officials say the surging delta variant is overwhelming the state’s hospital system. On July 27, some 726 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus. By Aug. 16, that figure stood at 1,623. The latest report from state health officials said 36 per cent of the state’s population is fully vaccinated. According to the latest report, 41 per cent of people in the state aged 12 and up are fully vaccinated.
Mississippi’s State Health Officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said this wave is impacting younger, unvaccinated people just as schools are resuming. More children are hospitalized, and one died last week.
State epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said about 20,000 Mississippi students are currently quarantined for COVID-19 exposure — 4.5 per cent of the public school population.
Today MSDH is reporting 4,085 more cases of COVID-19 in Mississippi, 36 deaths, and 182 ongoing outbreaks in long-term care facilities. State <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/covid19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#covid19</a> totals: 396,394 cases, 7,916 deaths, and 1,088,155 persons fully vaccinated. Full information: <a href=”https://t.co/YCv9xPyJDk”>https://t.co/YCv9xPyJDk</a> <a href=”https://t.co/B48hJLTCjs”>pic.twitter.com/B48hJLTCjs</a>
The medical centre’s leader, LouAnn Woodward, renewed pleas for people to get vaccinated. She said unlike the natural disaster in Haiti, the situation in Mississippi is a “disaster of our own making.”
“We as a state, as a collective, have failed to respond in a unified way to a common threat, we have failed to use the tools that we have to protect ourselves,” she said.
There’s been a total of 396,394 cases and 7,916 deaths in a state of roughly three million people.
The update came after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who is locked in a battle with some local leaders over his ban on mask mandates in school, tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday but so far has no symptoms of the illness, his office said.
–From The Associated Press and CBC News, last updated at 10:10 a.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH | The efforts to convince some of Canada’s most COVID-19 vaccine hesitant to get a shot:
The efforts to convince some of Canada’s most COVID-19 vaccine hesitant to get a shot
14 hours ago
Aylmer, Ont., is one of the least vaccinated parts of Canada, but the community is using information and targeted campaigns to convince the vaccine hesitant to get COVID-19 shots. 5:59
What’s happening around the world
A medical worker administers a dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine at the Narathiwat Hospital compound in the southern Thai province of Narathiwat on Wednesday. (Madaree Tohlala/AFP/Getty Images)
As of early Wednesday morning, more than 208.6 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s case-tracking tool. The reported global death toll stood at more than 4.3 million.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Southeast Asian countries need more help securing COVID-19 vaccines, as the region struggles to contain record infections and deaths, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
New Zealand’s city streets were largely deserted on Wednesday as the country returned to life in lockdown for the first time in six months in a bid to halt any spread of the delta variant.
This picture shows an empty highway during a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in Wellington, New Zealand, on Wednesday. (Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images)
In Europe, Britain’s health regulator has approved Moderna’s vaccine for use in children aged 12 to 17, weeks after Pfizer’s shot was given the green light ahead of schools reopening.
In Africa, Botswana needs to budget an extra $100 million US to help secure vaccines and equipment as the southern African country battles a third wave of infections, Finance Minister Peggy Serame told parliament.
In the Americas, several doctors in Cuba have taken to social media to decry shortages of medicine, oxygen and other materials needed to battle a dire COVID-19 outbreak, in a rare public denunciation of conditions in the island’s hallowed health-care system.
Ecuador will administer a third vaccine dose to people with weak immune systems and will carry out tests to determine if the rest of the inoculated population also needs a booster, Health Minister Ximena Garzon said.
In the Middle East, Iran on Tuesday reported 50,228 new cases of COVID-19 — yet another single-day high. The country, which is dealing with a surge in cases, also reported 625 additional deaths.
–From The Associated Press, Reuters and CBC News, last updated at 8 a.m. ET
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
