Are COVID-19 cases, deaths up or down on the MS Coast? Take a look at these graphs

Tracking the spread of COVID-19 across the Coast is important for the public to see as Mississippi continues to report new COVID-19 cases and deaths.

These graphs below are meant to help with that. Data from the graphs below shows combined data for George, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River and Stone counties.

They are interactive, meaning you can hover over them and see data points dating back to when Mississippi reported its first new coronavirus case on March 11.

These graphs use data reported by the Mississippi State Department of Health. They will update once a day.

New cases and seven-day average

The above graph tracks the number of new coronavirus cases and a seven-day average of new cases on the Coast.

The number of new cases each day is found by subtracting the total number of cases reported on this day from the number of cases reported the day before.

The seven-day average is found by adding the number of new cases reported each day and dividing by the number of days in a week. This average, called a simple moving average, can help identify trends that are hard to find.

It’s important to remember a few things looking at this graph. Lowering the number of new cases is important, but that doesn’t mean the pandemic is ending.

“This absolutely does not mean the pandemic is nearing an end,”said Pia MacDonald, an infectious disease expert at RTI International, a nonprofit research institute in North Carolina, in an interview with Kaiser Health News. “Once you get past the peak, it’s not over until it’s over. It’s just the starting time for the rest of the response.”

New deaths

This graph shows the number of new deaths reported each day on the Coast since March.

Total cases

This graph shows the number of total cases reported on the Coast since mid-March.

Total deaths

This graph shows the number of total coronavirus deaths reported on the Coast since late March.

Total cases by county

This graph shows the number of COVID-19 cases by county.

This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 5:50 AM.

Nick Wooten

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

Nick Wooten is the Accountability/Investigative reporter for the Ledger-Enquirer where he is responsible for covering several topics, including Georgia politics. His work may also appear in the Macon Telegraph. Nick was given the Georgia Press Association’s 2021 Emerging Journalist award for his coverage of elections, COVID-19 and Columbus’ LGBTQ+ community. Before joining McClatchy, he worked for The (Shreveport La.) Times covering city government and investigations. He is a graduate of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.