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Report highlights strengths, weaknesses of Mississippi’s pandemic response

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The Mississippi State Health Department hired an outside contractor a little over a year ago to assess how well the state responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The answer, according to the report: pretty well.

But this counters a previous report from a nonprofit that ranked Mississippi’s response last in the nation.

The new report highlights the state’s strong suits — use of data visualization, targeted vaccination clinics for underserved populations and consistently working and communicating with state and local agencies. It also lists areas for improvement, which include investing in its workforce, maintaining public information campaigns during long-term COVID-19 recovery and unifying its purchasing process.

Mississippi’s COVID-19 response, led by the state Health Department, was officially from March 2020, when the first cases of coronavirus were identified in Mississippi, until November 2021, when Gov. Tate Reeves’ state of emergency declaration expired.

And while the state-contracted report deemed Mississippi’s response to COVID-19 widely “a success,” another report by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund released in 2022 ranked Mississippi’s pandemic response last in the country.

“Due to the magnitude of the pandemic, it is likely recovery efforts will be ongoing,” the new report reads. “The recovery from COVID-19 cannot be solved by one single entity, and the responsibility is on the entire State of Mississippi to address these gaps.”

The new 198-page report goes into great detail in every pandemic response category, offering both suggestions for improvement and highlighting the state’s strengths in each area.

Drive-thru testing and vaccination sites were deemed one of Mississippi’s strengths because they “allowed for safe and efficient mass testing and vaccination.” It also noted the support the Mississippi National Guard provided at these sites, and highlighted the state’s success in vaccinating its most vulnerable populations.

But the report took issue with delays in setting up those sites, which the contractor chalked up to a “lack of coordination.” Contributing to these delays were staffing issues, brought on in part by mixed messages about working from home early on in the state’s response, travel challenges, long-hours and insufficient time off. The report recommends investing in the state Health Department’s workforce with competitive wages and training opportunities.

The state agency has long struggled with staffing — State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney said in June that the agency was experiencing a vacancy rate of over 40% across departments.

The contractor said while the state consistently and equitably shared information, it was harder to stay informed when the COVID-19 response transitioned into long-term recovery.

Data visualization was also a strong suit — during the state’s response, efficient usage of data and other technologies helped the state communicate and make decisions. However, the report notes the huge requests made of the state’s epidemiologists, an already strained staff.

The state performed well in the health equity category. Its homebound vaccination program and multiple-language outreach resources were especially praised. The report recommends that the state expand its translation services.

And while the report determined the state didn’t lose any money on fraudulent purchases, like other states and hiring a contractor to assist with submitting reimbursements worked well, the state health department’s procurement process was not unified and more robust documentation within the finance department were recommended.

The Mississippi Public Health Laboratory was generally lauded in the report, though the contractor noted it needs more resources and supplies were limited during the state’s pandemic response, and that the lab should be involved in agency drills and exercises moving forward.

The report’s findings, which will be used to improve emergency planning, are the result of research that began in November 2022, assessing the thousands of people involved with the state’s pandemic response, including employees of the health department, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi Department of Human Services, the Mississippi State University Extension Service, the Board of Animal Health, the National Guard and the Department of Environmental Quality, as well as private contractors.

Mississippi was one of the first states during the first year of the pandemic to ease masking and public crowd restrictions. Shortly after Reeves lifted the state’s mask rules, while delta wave cases skyrocketed, he said CDC indoor masking recommendations were “foolish.”

Reeves made it clear a few months ago that his opinion on masking hasn’t changed. In August, when COVID-19 cases briefly surged, Reeves issued a press release encouraging Mississippians to avoid succumbing to “fear” and said he would not be reinstating a mask mandate.

Since the start of the pandemic, 15,172 Mississippians have died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mississippi’s total deaths per 100,000 people is 438.2. The national rate is 292.2, as of January 2024.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

An ad supporting Jenifer Branning finds imaginary liberals on the Mississippi Supreme Court

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-11-24 06:00:00

The Improve Mississippi PAC claims in advertising that the state Supreme Court “is in danger of being dominated by liberal justices” unless Jenifer Branning is elected in Tuesday’s runoff.

Improve Mississippi made the almost laughable claim in both radio commercials and mailers that were sent to homes in the court’s central district, where a runoff election will be held on Tuesday.

Improve Mississippi is an independent, third party political action committee created to aid state Sen. Jenifer Branning of Neshoba County in her efforts to defeat longtime Central District Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens of Copiah County.

The PAC should receive an award or at least be considered for an honor for best fiction writing.

At least seven current members of the nine-member Supreme Court would be shocked to know anyone considered them liberal.

It is telling that the ads do not offer any examples of “liberal” Supreme Court opinions issued by the current majority. It is even more telling that there have been no ads by Improve Mississippi or any other group citing the liberal dissenting opinions written or joined by Kitchens.

Granted, it is fair and likely accurate to point out that Branning is more conservative than Kitchens. After all, Branning is considered one of the more conservative members of a supermajority Republican Mississippi Senate.

As a member of the Senate, for example, she voted against removing the Confederate battle emblem from the Mississippi state flag, opposed Medicaid expansion and an equal pay bill for women.

And if she is elected to the state Supreme Court in Tuesday’s runoff election, she might be one of the panel’s more conservative members. But she will be surrounded by a Supreme Court bench full of conservatives.

A look at the history of the members of the Supreme Court might be helpful.

Chief Justice Michael Randolph originally was appointed to the court by Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who is credited with leading the effort to make the Republican Party dominant in Mississippi. Before Randolph was appointed by Barbour, he served a stint on the National Coal Council — appointed to the post by President Ronald Reagan who is considered an icon in the conservative movement.

Justices James Maxwell, Dawn Beam, David Ishee and Kenneth Griffis were appointed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant.

Only three members of the current court were not initially appointed to the Supreme Court by conservative Republican governors: Kitchens, Josiah Coleman and Robert Chamberlin. All three got their initial posts on the court by winning elections for full eight-year terms.

But Chamberlin, once a Republican state senator from Southaven, was appointed as a circuit court judge by Barbour before winning his Supreme Court post. And Coleman was endorsed in his election effort by both the Republican Party and by current Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who also contributed to his campaign.

Only Kitchens earned a spot on the court without either being appointed by a Republican governor or being endorsed by the state Republican Party.

The ninth member of the court is Leslie King, who, like Kitchens, is viewed as not as conservative as the other seven justices. King, former chief judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals, was originally appointed to the Supreme Court by Barbour, who to his credit made the appointment at least in part to ensure that a Black Mississippian remained on the nine-member court.

It should be noted that Beam was defeated on Nov. 5 by David Sullivan, a Gulf Coast municipal judge who has a local reputation for leaning conservative. Even if Sullivan is less conservative when he takes his new post in January, there still be six justices on the Supreme Court with strong conservative bonafides, not counting what happens in the Branning-Kitchens runoff.

Granted, Kitchens is next in line to serve as chief justice should Randolph, who has been on the court since 2004, step down. The longest tenured justice serves as the chief justice.

But to think that Kitchens as chief justice would be able to exert enough influence to force the other longtime conservative members of the court to start voting as liberals is even more fiction.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1968

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-11-24 07:00:00

Nov. 24, 1968

Credit: Wikipedia

Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver fled the U.S. to avoid imprisonment on a parole violation. He wrote in “Soul on Ice”: “If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America.” 

The Arkansas native began to be incarcerated when he was still in junior high and soon read about Malcolm X. He began writing his own essays, drawing the praise of Norman Mailer and others. That work helped him win parole in 1966. His “Soul on Ice” memoir, written from Folsom state prison, described his journey from selling marijuana to following Malcolm X. The book he wrote became a seminal work in Black literature, and he became a national figure. 

Cleaver soon joined the Black Panther Party, serving as the minister of information. After a Panther shootout with police that left him injured, one Panther dead and two officers wounded, he jumped bail and fled the U.S. In 1977, after an unsuccessful suicide attempt, he returned to the U.S. pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault and served 1,200 hours of community service. 

From that point forward, “Mr. Cleaver metamorphosed into variously a born-again Christian, a follower of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a Mormon, a crack cocaine addict, a designer of men’s trousers featuring a codpiece and even, finally, a Republican,” The New York Times wrote in his 1998 obituary. His wife said he was suffering from mental illness and never recovered.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1867

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-11-23 07:00:00

Nov. 23, 1867

Extract from the Reconstructed Constitution of the State of Louisiana, 1868. Credit: Library of Congress

The Louisiana Constitutional Convention, composed of 49 White delegates and 49 Black delegates, met in New Orleans. The new constitution became the first in the state’s history to include a bill of rights. 

The document gave property rights to married women, funded public education without segregated schools, provided full citizenship for Black Americans, and eliminated the Black Codes of 1865 and property qualifications for officeholders. 

The voters ratified the constitution months later. Despite the document, prejudice and corruption continued to reign in Louisiana, and when Reconstruction ended, the constitution was replaced with one that helped restore the rule of white supremacy.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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