After being back in school for eight days, Mississippi middle-schooler, Makayla Robinson, died Saturday, Aug. 14 hours after testing positive for COVID-19.
A neighboring school district has since temporarily been shut down due to rising cases and reported deaths. As a result many hospitals in Mississippi are crowded with people fighting the virus. With full hospital beds, the state has requested military assistance but was later denied by FEMA, keeping many from the assistance they need.
The health officer has reported over four deaths in the state since the beginning of the summer. Mississippi’s Governor, Tate Reeves, addressed the mask policy on Aug. 13 at a press conference.
“I don’t have any intentions of issuing a statewide mask mandate for any category of Mississippians at this time” Reeves said.
Despite rising cases, Reeves’ goal is to keep schools open in order to not take away from learning capabilities.
“While there are certainly risks with schools being open, there are also risks with schools not being open” Reeves said.
After the surprising death of Robinson, the district has since put in order its own mask mandate to help prevent the spread. Currently 76 students and 11 teachers have tested positive in Robinson’s school district alone.
During the conference, Reeves also announced that districts are able to set different protocols to help prevent the spread during the back-to-school season. Since the pandemic started, Mississippi has reported just under 8,000 COVID-19 cases. A number set to change any given day now.