Mississippi COVID-19 cases are climbing, following previous seasonal peaks

The health department is seeing an uptick in Mississippi residents visiting clinics for COVID-19.

According to data from the Mississippi Department of Health, the number of COVID-related clinic visits nearly doubled from the beginning of July to the end. Mississippi is following a national trend with rising hospitalizations of those with COVID-19.

Dr. Kathryn Taylor is the interim state epidemiologist. She says over the past three years, fluctuations in cases seem to happen around the summer and winter months.

“Certain diseases have some seasonality: Influenza is another example of that, we tend to see peaks of influenza over the winter,” she says. “Three years isn't necessarily enough to predict the future, but COVID may be a disease that has two peaks a year, generally one in the summer and one in the winter.”

Experts say classes starting in August and holiday gatherings in the winter could potentially contribute to higher risks of exposure, and high temperatures often drive people to gather inside where infection occurs more easily.

Taylor says the recommendations from the health department and the CDC remain the same: all who can should stay up to date on vaccines and boosters.

“The recommendation for booster shots is for every individual to have at least one bivalent booster shot,” she says. “So at this point if you are an adult with no other risk factors and not in a certain age group and you've had one booster that's a bivalent booster, you're considered up to date.”

Both Pfizer and Moderna are reportedly working on a booster vaccine that could be available as early as October.