More than 20,000 students in Mississippi—about 4.5% of the state's public-school population—were quarantined over the last two weeks due to coronavirus exposures, per USA Today. Almost 6,000 students in the state have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past two weeks, and two have died since late July, according to Mississippi state health department data released Tuesday. A total of 803 schools reported 4,521 positive cases among students just within the last week, per the Mississippi Free Press. Some context:
- Delta's impact: Only 199 student cases of COVID-19 were reported in Mississippi at this time last year, per the Free Press. But the delta variant wasn't yet wreaking havoc in the US. It now represents about 90% of new infections among children, per USA Today.