Mississippi adds 1,553 COVID-19 cases Saturday and likely will surpass 150,000 total cases Sunday.
Health officials are watching to see if people dining and shopping together over Thanksgiving weekend will cause a greater spike in COVID-19 cases.
The latest numbers from the Mississippi Department of Health show 1,746 new cases statewide in Thursday’s report, 1,005 on Friday and 1,553 on Saturday, for a three-day total of 4,304.
Presumed recoveries in the state reached 121,637 through Nov. 22.
.Of the 34 deaths statewide over the three days, 1 was on the Coast, in Harrison County.
South Mississippi’s six counties had 203 new cases Thursday, 174 Friday and 202 Saturday for 579 cases over the three days including Thanksgiving. Total cases in South Mississippi since March 11 are 18,233, with 373 deaths.
For the two weeks from Nov. 2-15, Harrison County had the 15th highest rate of new cases in the state at 740, or 356 per 100,000 residents. Jackson County was 16th in the state with 686 new cases, or 478 cases per 100,000, according to health department data.
As cases surge, COVID deaths don’t rise as quickly
A few bright spots are contained in the daily coronavirus reports from the Mississippi Department of Health, even as hospitalizations in the state rise to near record levels.
▪ Since March, 10 percent of those who tested positive in Mississippi were hospitalized. Ninety percent remained at home.
▪ Only two children under age 18 have died from the coronavirus in Mississippi.
▪ The number of people dying from the coronavirus isn’t rising as fast as the number of people testing positive in the state.
“We are thankful for Dexamethasone, Remdesivir, prone positioning (lying on stomach) and other treatments and techniques that together reduce the odds of dying from COVID,” Singing River Health System CEO Lee Bond said this week.
Testing is easier to get, he said, making the virus easier to detect and treat. With more people getting flu shots this year, he said, colds and flu with not be as prevalent this winter.
“Our rolling average inpatient hospitalized number of COVID-19 patients dipped below 40 inpatients again for the first time in a long while,” he said, and South Mississippi is doing better than the rest of the state.
Hospitals continue to see beds filled and ICU beds in short supply, yet the ICU rates and people on respirators is below peak levels.
The number of people in Mississippi hospitalized with the coronavirus on Nov. 22 was 942, compared to 579 a month ago on Oct. 24 and 476 on Sept. 24.
Those in ICU is 245, compared to 164 on Oct. 24 and 143 on Sept. 24.
Mississippians on respirators is 113 compared to 68 on Oct. 24 and 73 on Nov. 24.
COVID-19 by the numbers:
Total cases are:
Saturday
George — 1,255 (10 new)
Hancock — 1,211 (9 new)
Harrison — 7,116 (71 new)
Jackson — 6,360 (90 new)
Pearl River — 1,521 (13 new)
Stone — 770 (9 new)
Friday
George — 1,245 (10 new)
Hancock — 1,202 (26 new)
Harrison — 7,045 (63 new)
Jackson — 6,270 (52 new)
Pearl River — 1,508 (14 new)
Stone — 761 (9 new)
Thursday
George — 1,235 (12 new)
Hancock — 1,176 (17 new)
Harrison — 6,982 (84 new)
Jackson — 6,218 (40 new)
Pearl River — 1,494 (29 new)
Stone — 752 (21 new)
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 11:24 AM.
