Governor to update plans for hospitals to meet the coming COVID-19 surge

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves will update plans for hospitals to meet the predicted surge in COVID-19 patients in his daily briefing at 2:30 p.m. Monday.

Friday, Reeves predicted that Mississippi could see as many as 1,000 to 2,500 deaths from the novel coronavirus based on White House predictions. The numbers of U.S. deaths is expected to be in the 100,000 to 250,000 range. With about 1% of the nation’s population, the death toll in Mississippi is expected to be 1% of the national total.

Given the state’s current rate of COVID-19 hospitalization, 30%, Mississippi will need around 30,000 hospital beds, many of them intensive care beds, using ventilators to support patients suffering from the virus. That number is more than three times the number of beds in the state, according to information from the American Hospital Directory.

Watch Reeves’ update live on Facebook.