Mississippi’s top health official urged Mississippians to get vaccinated Thursday as he reported cases of the much more contagious variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus were “increasing rapidly.”

Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Mississippi’s health officer and leader of the Mississippi State Department of Health, made the comment in a social media post as he shared an article about the Delta variant running rampant in Missouri.

“Let’s pay attention to Missouri,” Dobbs wrote. “Delta variant increasing rapidly in MS.”

The state reported that 29 cases of the Delta variant, first found in India, have been found in Mississippi.

“I predict (the Delta variant) will be our dominant strain in 1-3 weeks,” Dobbs said.