Mississippi has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the country, behind only Alabama. Their recalcitrant Governor, Tate Reeves, said last month that for most kids, COVID amounts to nothing more than a few sniffles. Seven children have died in Mississippi from COVID. Despite that, he's resisted calls for a statewide mask mandate in schools. Some individual school districts do have them. "At a press conference on August 19, Reeves said reporters in the room who asked about the coronavirus and schools were making masks and vaccines into a political issue to grow their Twitter following."

Source: Business Insider

Last month, an eighth-grader at a Mississippi middle school died from COVID-19 just days after Republican Gov. Tate Reeves held a press conference claiming that the virus only causes "sniffles" in children under 18. Reeves speculated that maybe one or two children had died from the virus in the state since the beginning of the pandemic, before state Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs corrected him. To date, seven children have died of COVID-19 in Mississippi.

According to state data, at least 18,825 students have tested positive for COVID-19 within the first month of school and more than 15,000 had to quarantine last week alone.

Only 46% of Mississippians 12 and older, who are eligible to get the coronavirus vaccines, are fully vaccinated — one of the worst vaccination rates in the country.

More than 18,000 Mississippi students have caught COVID-19 in the first month of the school year.

Teachers told @thisisinsider the state of education in Mississippi is a tragedy and they want a mask mandate. ⬇️https://t.co/gIIadKkfkR

— Healthcare Insider (@HealthInsider) September 10, 2021