Over 20,000 Mississippi students under quarantine after 1st week of school

More than 20,000 students across Mississippi are in quarantine after the first week of in-person classes.

More than 20,000 students across Mississippi are in quarantine after the first week of in-person classes. Mississippi, which has the lowest vaccination rate among all states -- about 34%, according to state data -- is reeling from rising COVID-19 cases and the highly transmissible delta variant. Last week, a 13-year-old eighth grader died after testing positive -- the fifth Mississippi child to die during the pandemic. Some schools reopened last week, and so far 4,521 students have tested positive for COVID-19 and 20,334 have been quarantined due to exposure -- about 5% of the state's public school students, according to data compiled by the state Aug. 9 to Aug. 13 from over 800 schools. Additionally, 948 teachers or staffers tested positive last week and 1,463 were quarantined due to exposure, according to state data.