Live updates May 15: After spike, Mississippi lowers COVID-19 totals for Coast counties
Total’s report from the Mississippi Department of Health erased part of this week’s big jump in new cases in Harrison County.
On Thursday, the Health Department had reported 13 new cases for a total of 223 in Harrison County. Today the total was adjusted down to 214. That difference of 9 cases wasn’t explained, but adjustments have been made before in the daily count.
The number in Stone County was cut by 2 today, and Hancock County decreased by 1 today.
With 7 new cases and the reduction of 12 cases, the total for South Mississippi stands at 812 cases and 56 deaths.
Mississippi has 318 new cases and 13 additional deaths, 2 of them from review of prior death certificates and none from South Mississippi.
Totals now are 10,801 cases and 493 deaths in Mississippi since March 11. The state reports 6,268 presumed recoveries.
Total cases in South Mississippi are:
George — 18 (2 new)
Hancock — 78 (1 fewer)
Harrison — 214 (9 fewer)
Jackson — 283 (3 new)
Pearl River — 195 (2 new)
Stone — 24 (2 fewer)
4:33 p.m.
Gulfport announced Friday it will reopen city buildings to the public with the exception of the community centers and gymnasiums.
There will be a limit to the number of people who can be inside building lobbies and municipal courtrooms.
Hand sanitizer will be placed at entrances and floors will indicate a distance of six feet between themselves and the people in front of them.
Even though the doors will be open, citizens are still welcome to conduct business via the website at www.gulfport-ms.gov or by calling the appropriate department. Court payments, building code applications, service requests and water bill payments can all be submitted online.
3 p.m.
With most COVID-19 deaths now in long-term care facilities, Mississippi State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said a new two-week strategy will test all the residents and employees in nursing homes across the state.
Gov. Tate Reeves said it will mean testing 27,000 Mississippians, “a major step forward and a major effort.”
2:30 p.m.
Gov. Tate Reeves announced that tatoo parlors can reopen immediately.
12:30 p.m.
The Mississippi Gaming Commission released the guidelines casinos must follow as they prepare to reopen starting May 21.
9 a.m.
NASA resumed Green Run testing activities this week on the first flight stage of its Space Launch System rocket, with the return of limited crews to perform work at the agency’s Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis.
“This is an important step toward resuming the critical work to support NASA’s Artemis program that will land the first woman and the next man on the south pole of the Moon by 2024,” Stennis Center Director Rick Gilbrech said.
Stennis moved to Stage 4 on March 16, with only personnel for safety and security allowed on site. The test facility has been in standby mode. Reestablishing, or “waking up,” the Stennis B-2 Test Stand systems requires restoring facility power and controls, and ensuring pressurized gas systems are at proper levels to proceed with testing activities.
Stennis plans for 30 days of limited crew activity on site. As work ramps up, the focus will shift to preparing for the avionics power-up test. All testing will be conducted on the B-2 Test Stand in the coming months and will culminate with an eight-minute, full-duration hot fire of the core stage with its four RS-25 engines, as they will be during an actual launch.
Thursday highlights
▪ Harrison County had a spike in new coronavirus cases, with 13 more cases reported Thursday by the Mississippi State Department of Health, following 10 new cases on Wednesday.
Harrison County has recorded 30 new cases in the past week.
Cases jumped throughout the state to 393 cases today, from 182 on Wednesday.
There were 15 deaths reported Thursday. One of those deaths was in Pearl River County, where there now are 26 deaths — twice the number of the next highest county in South Mississippi.
▪ The Mississippi Gaming Commission said casinos can start reopening May 21, ahead of the Memorial Day Weekend.
▪ Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves will be hosting a virtual graduation ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday on his Facebook page.
If you have a graduate who would like to have their name read during the ceremony, you can submit them via a form you can find on the governor’s Facebook page.
▪ The Mississippi state legislature sent a $300 million bill to Gov. Tate Reeves that is meant to aid the state’s small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senate Bill 2772, which requires the governor’s signature, would create two programs that give a direct payment to some businesses and a grant to others.
The direct payment program would provide a $2,000 check to qualifying businesses that shut down, including hair salons, fitness centers and some restaurants.
Under the “Back to Business Mississippi Grant Fund,” up to $25,000 in grant money will be given to small businesses that employ 50 or fewer people and have experienced an interruption as a result of the virus.
This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 11:33 AM.