Less than an hour after Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott announced that it would lift all COVID-19 restrictions, Mississippi Republican Governor Tate Reeves joined in and tweeted, “It’s time,” the mask mandate to get rid of his state. In addition to a vaccine, wearing a mask is the most effective measure to control the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
“Starting tomorrow, we will lift all of our county mask mandates and companies will be able to operate at full capacity without government-imposed rules,” Reeves said on Twitter, announcing that he has blocked other “lockdown” protocols. “Our hospital stays and case numbers have decreased, and the vaccine is being distributed quickly. It’s time!”
Governor Reeves, dubbed the “Trump Acolyte” by The New Yorker, refused to take action at the start of the pandemic, and worse, overrode local officials who had ordered lockdowns and other safeguards. Instead, Reeves urged Mississippi residents to trust the “power of prayer” over the deadly virus. And then he flew to Europe for a family trip.
Reeves has a strong background in finance and he says he’s looking at the coronavirus numbers, but it seems like he’s not really looking at the important coronavirus numbers for his state.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Reeves said he focused on the numbers and looked at them every morning.
But he stated, “The total number of daily cases is not the be-all and end-all.” If you don’t test a lot, like Mississippi, Reeves would be right – but not in a good way.
“What is the be-all and end-all and the most important questions are what the total number of hospital stays looks like, how many patients are in intensive care beds and how many patients are in total on fans? “
These are the “most important” numbers you would look at if your only goal is to make sure the hospitals are not overloaded. These are the short-term numbers to look at to help face the pandemic in the worst possible way. These are numbers to focus on if your primary goal is simply to prevent problems on the last mile. They don’t take into account “long COVID,” those patients who become infected with the virus and never fully recover. In fact, if you literally don’t care how many people get the disease or spread it, they are numbers to look at.
In the meantime, we’ve looked at the really important numbers to see how well or badly Governor Reeves is handling the pandemic.
It is not good.
Here are some stats the GOP governor may want to look out for in their first term.
Mississippi ranks 32nd in the total population in the US, but 23rd in coronavirus cases. That means Reeves’ condition is above average – not good.
Those numbers are likely much worse as Mississippi ranks 36th on per capita coronavirus tests.
Worse still, only 14 percent of Governor Reeves’ residents had their first COVID-19 vaccination shot, meaning his state ranks 43rd, according to the New York Times. That’s pretty bad
Governor Reeves claims “hospital stays and case numbers have fallen,” but Mississippi ranks 13th in hospital stays according to Bloomberg (number one is worst).
And here’s the worst number: Mississippi ranks 5th in deaths from per capita coronavirus. There are only four states that are in the worst position.
Despite all of this, Reeves immediately opens his state.
Statistics about WorldOMeter
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