More people in Harrison County died of COVID over 5 days than the entire month of June
As the number of COVID-19 cases surge across the state because of the delta variant, the last few days have proven deadly in South Mississippi.
The Mississippi State Department of Health on Tuesday reported eight new COVID deaths in the state’s southernmost six counties over the period of July 29-Aug. 2 — five of those in Harrison County. There were two deaths in Jackson County and one in Pearl River County.
The five deaths reported in Harrison County over five days exceeds the county’s death total for the entire month of June, which had three COVID deaths.
There were a total of 34 deaths reported statewide, along with 1,574 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
Hospitalizations continue to climb in the state. As of Aug. 2, there were 1,035 people hospitalized in Mississippi with confirmed cases of the coronavirus. There were 284 patients in intensive care.
This marks the first time there have been over 1,000 COVID patients in Mississippi hospitals since late January.
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs reported some good news on the vaccine front Tuesday, saying that more people have been seeking out shots.
There were 52,951 people who received the vaccine on the week of July, easily surpassing a low mark of 19,956 the week of July 3.
“Vaccination rates more than doubled in MS in recent weeks,” Dobbs said on Twitter. “We need 1 million more immune Mississippians to reach population immunity. Delta is deadly… expect high report today.”
