Mississippi health officials asked people age 65 and over and immunocompromised residents to avoid indoor gatherings through July 26, regardless of vaccination status, CNBC reports.
The guidance is not mandatory and is considered a recommendation amid the rapid rise of cases linked to the delta variant, which was first detected in the U.K.
"We're not recommending any mandates," Thomas Dobbs, MD, the state's health officer, said in a July 9 news conference. "What we're doing is we're providing personal recommendations for individuals who are at high risk for severe outcomes … We don't want anybody to die needlessly."
As of June 20, 85 percent of new cases sequenced in the state were linked to the delta strain, according to data presented during the news conference.
As of July 9, about 47 percent of Mississippi residents had received at least one dose of the vaccine, the lowest of all states, according to data from The New York Times.
Additionally, about 25 percent of residents older than 65 remain unvaccinated and make up most of the state's COVID-19 deaths, CNBC reports.
In all, about 33 percent of all eligible Mississippi residents have been fully vaccinated as of July 11 — second to last before Alabama, where 33 percent of all residents have been fully vaccinated.
Dr. Dobbs said the guidance was recommended because he doesn't think the state is "going to have some miraculous increase in our vaccination rate over the next few weeks."